text
stringlengths 1
134k
| label
int64 0
1
|
|---|---|
Email
Billionaire globalist George Soros (shown) has been dumping hundreds of millions of dollars into manipulating American elections in recent years, leaked documents show . While many critics have focused on his indirect links to a controversial voting-machine company , his electoral scheming goes much deeper, as a review of the documents by PJ Media shows . Rather than tampering with the outcome of particular elections, leaks from Soros' Open Society apparatus show he has far greater ambitions. Basically, he is seeking to “fundamentally transform America,” as Obama put it, by changing and manipulating the American electorate into supporting globalism, statism, collectivism, and his legions of radical politicians and elected officials. Soros, a self-described atheist, has also been exposed seeking to corrupt Christianity with his radical anti-Christian views . But as awareness of the scheming spreads, the Soros brand is becoming increasingly toxic among Americans from all walks of life.
Soros' assault on American elections revealed in leaked foundation documents is broad and multi-faceted. Among other schemes, the protegé of the unfathomably wealthy Rothschild banking dynasty has launched legal assaults on state-level efforts to limit voter fraud and ensure the integrity of elections. Essentially, the ploy appears to be aimed at facilitating mass voter fraud. Soros foundations have also been funding propaganda campaigns, racist ethnocentric “media” outlets, the subversion of journalism, vicious attacks on patriotic organizations, and more. The Soros network has also provided huge infusions of money to fringe and sometimes violent left-wing extremists and race-mongers (including racist groups like La Raza, or The Race) to build up pro-Soros AstroTurf groups. In direct politics, Soros has also been showering money on radical candidates at the local, state, and federal levels who will advance his anti-American, anti-Christian, anti-Constitution agenda.
Some of the Soros funding is aimed at what is described in leaked documents as a plot to “build power” for “systemic change.” Indeed, the Soros machine even created the “Democracy and Power Fund” in a bid to dupe various groups of Americans into serving as a collectivist coalition to push Soros' extreme big government agenda. These groups, centered around attributes such as race and income, include “people of color, immigrants, young people, and low income people,” the document shows. Blacks and Latinos are both in Soros' crosshairs. The fund, according to leaked documents, seeks to “inspire” these groups with “multi-issue advocacy” to push Soros' agenda at the federal, state, and local levels. Between 2010 and 2012, Soros dropped $15 million on his “Power Fund.” As the name of the fund suggests, securing power for himself and the establishment at the expense of the Constitution and the American people is exactly what Soros, a convicted felon, has in mind.
To ensure that the propaganda and hate that Soros minions produce receive the requisite media coverage, Soros has also been building up his own personal “media” megaphone. Among other schemes, Soros was exposed funding something called “New America Media,” which pumps out ethnocentric collectivism and race-mongering to thousands of propaganda organs under the guise of “ethnic” media. Also funded by the Soros machine is what documents refer to as a “Media Consortium.” As if the establishment media was not “progressive” enough, Soros documents explain that the funding helps “a network of leading progressive independent journalism organizations focused on making connections, building a media infrastructure, and amplifying the voices of progressive journalists in the United States.” Apparently the Soros-funded “consortium” has “done much to build community and greater strength among progressive media outlets.”
J. Christian Adams, the former Justice Department attorney who left in 2010 after accusing the outfit of racial bias, explained the significance of Soros' media scheming in his in-depth investigation of the leaked Soros documents published by PJ Media . “Mainstream journalists frequently parrot progressive writers when covering voter fraud, thus rendering the Media Consortium Soros dollars well spent,” Adams wrote in an article that was posted on the Drudge Report before going viral. “The leaked documents also reveal deliberate and successful efforts to manipulate media coverage of election issues in mainstream media outlets like the The New York Times .”
When it comes to Soros manipulating press coverage of voter fraud, the process works similar to the Soros machine's Black Lives Matter operation. “The leaked funding documents describe how the propaganda about the 'myth of voter fraud' is generated by two Soros-funded organizations, moved to blogger and racially-centric media outlets, and eventually to mainstream media,” Adams explained. Indeed, almost the exact same process is used by Soros to promote hatred of the police and racial agitation, with the ultimate goal of nationalizing law enforcement. As The New American has previously reported , Soros-funded groups protest and riot, Soros-funded academics produce propaganda “studies” to justify the narrative, and then Soros-funded propaganda organs provide media coverage of it all. The Washington Times described the Soros propaganda machine as an “echo chamber.”
The Soros network funds an incredible array of organizations that advance his extremism. Among those that are involved in fundamentally transforming America by manipulating the electoral system, many receive more than half of a million dollars annually. Among them is the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, which brings together left-wing extremists, anti-constitutional radicals, overtly racist groups such as “La Raza” (The Race), statist-controlled Big Labor groups, known communist front groups officially condemned by U.S. authorities as “subversive,” and more. This year, the radical alliance even called on a UN-linked international organization founded and largely controlled by communist and socialist regimes to oversee U.S. elections . Other groups on the Soros dole are the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the extremist Center for American Progress , Advancement Project, Center for Community Change, Brennan Center, and more. The supposedly non-partisan League of Women Voters is also deeply involved with the Soros machine.
Soros also partners with various establishment controlled tax-exempt mega-foundations such as Atlantic Philanthropies, Carnegie, Ford, and New World Foundations, among others. It partnered with the globalist Rockefeller Brothers Fund in a scheme to change voter registration policies. Much insight about the Rockefellers' totalitarian agenda was revealed by dynasty boss David Rockefeller, who showered praise on the mass-murdering regime of Chairman Mao for leading what he touted as “one of the most important and successful” social experiments “in history.” Some 60 million to 100 million people were killed as part of the experiment Rockefeller was so pleased with. In his autobiography, Rockefeller also boasted about conspiring with a secret cabal against his country to build a global political system. “Some even believe [the Rockefellers] are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as ‘internationalists’ conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure — one world, if you will,” Rockefeller wrote in his book. “If that’s the charge, I stand guilty, and I’m proud of it.” Soros shares the same agenda .
WikiLeaks has also revealed some interesting facts about Soros' political machinations. Indeed, Soros is mentioned more than 50 times in the Clinton and Democrat e-mails released so far. One e-mail is from Jacqueline Carozza, a Soros employee, to Clinton campaign boss and anti-Catholic bigot John Podesta. “With summer quickly approaching Mr. and Mrs. Soros are starting to plan the 2015 Southampton schedule and would enjoy your company,” she wrote last year to Podesta , who was also invited to an occult “Spirit Cooking” event with satanic overtones. “Please let me know which dates suit you best to come for a visit and hopefully we can coordinate a mutually convenient time for your stay.”
Beyond manipulating Americans into surrendering their heritage and their liberty, leaked documents also show that Soros has also been at the forefront of the establishment's efforts to corrupt Christianity. As The New American reported in August, hacked e-mails from his vast empire of shady tax-exempt foundations show that the radical “philanthropist” wants to change the views of Christians and churches around the world using deceit, manipulation, and lots and lots of money. His goals in showering money on Christian groups and churches include, among other policy agendas, legalizing the slaughter of unborn children in pro-life nations, promoting what he calls “racial and economic justice,” ensnaring more nations in the European Union, pushing global governance and what he calls the “New World Order” (which he said should be “owned” by Communist China) , and even shifting “the priorities of the U.S. Catholic church.” One document on funding “Christian” schemes speaks of pursuing “structural transformation of political and economic systems.” And that is just what is known.
In addition to trying to subvert churches into supporting his anti-Christian agenda, Soros has also been leading the effort to flood what was once known as “Christendom” with Islamic migrants from the globalist wars he helped engineer and justify . Indeed, Soros and his Open Society operations around the world have been key players in every phase of the ongoing mass-migration of millions of Middle Eastern and African migrants into Europe and the United States. Borders, Soros wrote in a column, are an “obstacle.” Leaked documents revealed that the Soros machine wields enormous influence in the European Union, the Obama administration, and the United Nations as it relates to the so-called “refugee crisis.” The goal, of course, is to fundamentally transform the entire Western world and to subvert nation-states on the road to internationalism.
As Adams notes in his PJ Media piece, conservatives and Republicans “have no opposing effort or source of funds that represents even a small fraction in opposition to level of the Soros-led manipulation contained in the leaked documents.” If America, the West, liberty, and self-government are to survive, Soros' machinations and those of the broader establishment he represents must be exposed and effectively countered. The alternative is what Soros has in the past referred to as a “New World Order.” And that will not be pretty, as a fundamentally transformed United States is subjugated by globalist radicals like Soros and his dangerous totalitarian allies. Photo: George Soros
Alex Newman is a correspondent for The New American , covering economics, education, politics, and more. Follow him on Twitter @ALEXNEWMAN_JOU . He can be reached at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Related articles: | 0 |
CHARLESTON, W. Va. — Cole Chapman and his wife, Silvia Gabriel Fields, were having coffee on their deck when a nearby creek suddenly burst its banks, sending them and their two children sprinting to their pickup truck for safety. “We heard cracking and popping, and a sheet of water just started pouring into the yard,” Mr. Chapman said Saturday night. “It was like something totally exploded. ” Minutes later, their yard submerged beneath gushing, water, the family raced over muddy roads to higher ground. “My son was in the back seat, saying, ‘We’re going to die, we’re going to die,’” Mr. Chapman recalled. “I’m sitting there thinking, ‘I sure hope you’re not right. ’” The storms that swept West Virginia last Thursday created historic flooding and in the aftermath left hundreds of homes, buildings, bridges, roads and vehicles destroyed. The storms were tied to at least 24 deaths. The authorities said on Sunday that all of the people reported missing had been accounted for except in one county, Greenbrier, which suffered the greatest death toll in the flooding. Sixteen deaths were reported in Greenbrier County, all but one of them in the small town of Rainelle. The town’s mayor, Andrea Pendleton, wept as she surveyed her community on Saturday, The Associated Press reported. “I weep for my people,” she said. “I weep for the businesses. ” The county is home to a luxury resort and golf course that was scheduled to host a P. G. A. tournament from July 4 to 10. But the course, like much of the surrounding countryside, was overrun by floodwaters and the event was canceled. “Canceling the Greenbrier Classic is certainly the most prudent course of action as our foremost concern is the of those who are having to live through this tragic situation,” the P. G. A. Tour commissioner, Tim Finchem, said in a news release. “Our thoughts and prayers are with them. ” The owner of the resort said that while it was closed for business, he would offer a limited number of free rooms and meals to house some of the people affected by the floods. The powerful storms appeared to have caught many people off guard. Hundreds of people were left stranded, and bodies that were recovered from houses — including those of a man and two women at one location, all presumed to have drowned, officials said — suggested that either people did not have enough time to flee, or did not heed warnings to evacuate. The state remained under a state of emergency on Sunday, with more than 17, 000 homes and business still without power. Late Saturday, President Obama declared a major disaster in the state that frees up federal funding for relief in three of the counties — Kanawha, Nicholas and Greenbrier. More heavy rain is forecast for Monday in some of the areas in West Virginia already hit hard by flooding, but Greenbrier County is expected to be spared. Mr. Chapman recounted his family’s harrowing escape as his truck crashed and bounced over debris in the road. He said for what seemed like an hour, he fought through water, mud and rain to get to Clendenin, usually a trip. The pickup almost flipped at one point, he said, as he drove over a fallen tree. “There was enough water hitting the side of the truck to make it rock,” he said. The family escaped, drenched, with little more than the clothes they were wearing. “I left with just what I had in my pockets,” Mr. Chapman said. When he returned to the house later, he said, he saw that their aboveground pool had been lifted and dashed against the side of the house. The family has no flood insurance, he said, and he is unsure whether they will be able to return home. Storms had been in the forecast for Thursday, but their overpowering strength came as a surprise to many. Most of West Virginia and the western parts of Virginia received 1 to 3 inches of rain in a few hours on Thursday afternoon and evening, but the downpour was far more intense in some places. Parts of Greenbrier County, a sparsely populated area bordering Virginia, got 8 to 10 inches of rain, the National Weather Service reported. Power went out a couple of hours before the creek burst its banks, Mr. Chapman said. But he and Ms. Fields were unaware how quickly the swollen creek was rising. Neighbors reported finding out about flooding only after someone knocked on their door. Over the weekend in Clendenin’s tiny downtown, a church group grilled burgers in a parking lot next to a Dairy Queen that was demolished by the Elk River, which flooded to record levels. Another church group passed out clothes and cleaning supplies to those left homeless. In rural West Virginia, it is not uncommon for multiple generations of a family to live near the same small town. On Thursday, Ms. Fields and two other households of relatives were flooded out. Gerald and Naomi Fields, her parents, live in Clendenin. Mr. Fields said he knew they were in trouble when he saw “a massive amount of water coming off the mountain” on his way home from work on Thursday. He said a rescue team worked for hours to evacuate residents of a nursing home. “Those emergency workers literally put their lives on the line to get them out,” he said. “By 3 in the morning, when they were done, one man just collapsed from exhaustion. ” Another set of relatives 10 houses away lost everything. Ms. Fields’s older sister Erica Babbitt and her husband, David, said their house was ruined. “We’re going to be starting from scratch,” Mr. Babbitt said. For now, all 11 members of the three related households are staying at an empty church rectory in Nitro, west of Charleston. Mr. Babbitt said his church has rallied around them, feeding them, giving them clothes, shelter and a few personal items. Ms. Babbitt said she and her husband had been getting ready to move to Fairmont for a new job. “I was thinking about what it was going to take to move,” she said. “I guess I don’t have to worry about that now. ” | 1 |
Mexicans are Whining About Illegal Immigrants Stealing Their Jobs
Zeiger October 29, 2016 Why can’t I hold all these illegals?
“When South America sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you, Jose. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.
“It’s time to erect a great wall on the southern border of Mexico and keep our borders secure. Let’s make Mexico great again.”
WFAA 8 :
This sweltering Mexican village sits about 1,200 miles south of Texas, but the complaints about foreigners would sound familiar in the Lone Star State: People crossing the river illegally from the south are driving down wages, taking over neighborhoods and taxing social services. Others are gaming the countryâs legal immigration system by overstaying their visas.
Tens of thousands of Central American migrants have passed through here fleeing their homelands, most trekking northward to seek asylum in the United States. But an increasing number are stopping and settling just north of the Suchiate River, the shallow body of water that separates Guatemala and Mexico.
Whether they are biding their time or looking for permanent residency, the uninvited arrivals have tapped into a nativism that puts more pressure on an already tense and poverty-stricken region of Mexico.
âIn Arriaga, there are neighborhoods that are made up entirely of immigrants from El Salvador and Guatemala,â said Jose Maria Morales Cruz, a retired teacher who was born and raised in the small town. âAnd those who live here now donât want to continue to the other side. Here, they are supported by their fellow countrymen.â Is that so?
Wow, that really sucks, huh, Pedro?
You have my full sympathies there.
You should really seal those borders quick, I reckon.
Morales said he canât blame the immigrants for wanting a better life, some fleeing gang wars that have made Honduras and El Salvador two of the most violent countries in the world. After all, thousands of Mexicans have migrated for years to the United States, he said, leaving poverty and violence behind. But he can see why some Mexicans arenât high on the idea of immigrants originally headed for the United States staking a claim in Mexico. Just take a trip to an auto repair shop or other blue-collar business, he said, and youâll see why.
âThe people that are from here [earn] 80 or 100 pesos a day,â Morales said. â[Then] a Guatemalan or El Salvadoran comes and they are offered 50 or 60 pesos. And they accept because at least they can eat, right?” Haha, silly rednecks. Stop with your paranoia about having illegals stealing your jobs. Get educated.
Mexicans canât do anything about the violence plaguing Central America, but if they want to understand why some Central Americans are settling in instead of moving on they can look to their own government, analysts argue. Another refrain familiar in Texas â that the government has no control over the country’s borders â echoes here.
It’s hilarious that the Mexico is getting swamped by low-skill brown immigrants, while they’re encouraging their own poor people to illegally enter the US to send money back into the country.
What goes around, comes around, huh?
I wonder if they have Jews in Mexico screaming that it would be racist to shut down the southern border? I’ll bet they do. Everyone has these “people” in their country making them do things.
Maybe they can ask Trump to help them build their walls after the Glorious Leader rises to power. That is, after we’re done building our own wall, of course. | 0 |
In an impassioned address Friday, Pope Francis denied the existence of Islamic terrorism, while simultaneously asserting that “the ecological crisis is real. ”[“Christian terrorism does not exist, Jewish terrorism does not exist, and Muslim terrorism does not exist. They do not exist,” Francis said in his speech to a world meeting of populist movements. What he apparently meant is that not all Christians are terrorists and not all Muslims are terrorists — a fact evident to all — yet his words also seemed to suggest that no specifically Islamic form of terrorism exists in the world, an assertion that stands in stark contradiction to established fact. “No people is criminal or or violent,” Francis said, while also suggesting — as he has on other occasions — that terrorism is primarily a result of economic inequalities rather than religious beliefs. “The poor and the poorer peoples are accused of violence yet, without equal opportunities, the different forms of aggression and conflict will find a fertile terrain for growth and will eventually explode. ” The Pope also reiterated his conviction that all religions promote peace and that the danger of violent radicalization exists equally in all religions. “There are fundamentalist and violent individuals in all peoples and religions — and with intolerant generalizations they become stronger because they feed on hate and xenophobia,” he said. While denying the existence of Islamic terrorism, Francis also seemed to condemn the denial of global warming, asserting that “the ecological crisis is real. ” “A very solid scientific consensus indicates that we are presently witnessing a disturbing warming of the climatic system,” he said. We know “what happens when we deny science and disregard the voice of Nature,” the Pope said. “Let us not fall into denial. Time is running out. Let us act. I ask you again — all of you, people of all backgrounds including native people, pastors, political leaders — to defend Creation. ” While acknowledging that science is not “the only form of knowledge,” and that “science is not necessarily ‘neutral’” and often “conceals ideological views or economic interests,” he still insisted that people of good will should not oppose “scientific consensus” regarding global warming. Leftist media like the liberal Guardian in the U. K. immediately politicized the speech, predictably claiming that the Pope was backing “ protests,” despite the fact that the Pope himself denied such a claim, explicitly declaring that “I am not speaking of anyone in particular. ” “I am not speaking of anyone in particular, I am speaking of a social and political process that flourishes in many parts of the world and poses a grave danger for humanity,” he said. Moreover, although the Guardian claimed that the Pope was “condemning populism,” in point of fact, he was speaking to populist movements and praised their commitment to democracy. “The direction taken beyond this historic ” Francis said, “will depend on people’s involvement and participation and, largely, on yourselves, the popular movements. ” Nevertheless, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, said Monday that the Holy See is concerned over growing populist and nationalist movements, both in Europe and in the United States. In an interview for the Italian evening news on the RAI network, the Cardinal was asked whether the Vatican is worried about what the interviewer called “the spread of nationalism and populism not only in Europe but also in the United States with Donald Trump. ” “I think so, I think so,” Parolin said. “Certainly these closings are not a good sign,” since many of them “are born of fear, which is not a good counselor. ” In his address Friday, the Pope denounced “the guise of what is politically correct or ideologically fashionable,” which he described as a “hypocritical attitude,” while urging real solutions to unemployment, corruption, the identity crisis, and “the gutting of democracies. ” “The system’s gangrene cannot be whitewashed forever because sooner or later the stench becomes too strong,” he said. Follow Thomas D. Williams on Twitter Follow @tdwilliamsrome | 1 |
Country: China The political situation in Hong Kong (more precisely in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China) has once again fallen under the influence of another “ autumn escalation “. One of the most large-scale protests was a mass rally of thousands of students in September-October 2014, which was coined the Umbrella Movement by the Western media. It’s almost a year later and new riots, albeit significantly less serious ones, have taken place. As in 2014-2015, the nature of this stage of political turbulence in Hong Kong is the same. In general, it can be described with the slogan “the price you have to pay for the transition period”. This concerns the difficulties of actual implementing the beautiful concept “One Country – Two Systems” created by Beijing when preparing to regain control over Hong Kong from Great Britain in 1997. Later, this concept was tested out for the possible (hypothetical and elusive) return of the lost province of Taiwan to the bosom of the Motherland. The procedure of transferring Hong Kong to the People’s Republic of China was provided for by the Sino-British Joint Declaration signed in 1984 during a visit of the then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to China. The strained relations between Beijing and Hong Kong are entirely based on events that preceded the handover. It’s important to remember that in the mid-19th century, Hong Kong was under the control of Great Britain following the so-called Opium Wars (which can be considered a “crime against humanity” by today’s standards). The following 150 years, Hong Kong formed a community of citizens that were very different from the citizens in modern-day China both in terms of mentality and living standards. Today, the latter is perhaps the major factor, which determines the mood of Hong Kong’s population. However, the Western media describe the wariness of Hong Kong citizens in respect of the gradual integration into China as a mantra on “the strive for democracy and freedom”. However, the same “fraudsters” that appeared during the decline of the USSR, then in the Middle East, and now in Ukraine, are manipulating the situation with fake ideas of “democracy” and “freedom”. There was no democracy in British Hong Kong. It only started to appear after the accession to the People’s Republic of China. According to many Hong Kong citizens, this is not enough as it currently does not allow it to maintain distance from China. But this is another issue that is indirectly linked to the phenomenon of democracy as a specific social and political structure of the society. In terms of Hong Kong, it functions in compliance with the Basic Law of the Hong Kong developed in China in 1990, which came into effect in 1997, i.e. the moment Hong Kong was transferred to the Beijing’s control. Article 104 of this document requires all the representatives of the authorities pledge allegiance to the Basic Law and to Hong Kong Special Administrative Region when assuming office. The same allegiance must be pledged by the Chief Executive, whose powers can be compared to those of the head of the fiercely Presidential Republic. Article 104 is aimed at ensuring China’s control over the entire system of political and administrative management of Hong Kong, including its key structure. Nonetheless, the authors of the Basic Law neglected one very important element. They did not foresee the answer to the question of what would happen to those who distort the letter and intent of Article 104 when assuming office. This question arose on October 12, 2016, when several newly elected deputies of the local Legislative Council (Parliament) took the liberty of not only distorting the content of this Article but also shouting out words and provocative slogans about Beijing during their swearing-in ceremony. Moreover, they unfurled the banner “Hong Kong is not China”. A few days later, during a repeat of the swearing-in ceremony, “pro-independence” deputies left the session hall depriving the Legislative Council of the necessary quorum. On this, the Global Times published an editorial entitled “Defiant Hong Kong legislators must be barred “. It seems that on November 7, this question was answered. This concerns the “interpretation” of Article 104 that was employed that day at the regular session of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (China’s Parliament), which assumes the status of the very same law as the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region itself. In other words, from now on, violators of Article 104 are subject to the full extent of the law. The reaction on the “streets” of Hong Kong to Beijing’s message proved to be immediate and upon the signing of the Article, events similar to the Umbrella Movement of Autumn 2014 broke out. It is worthwhile pointing out some important issues: – the outlined process of (this certain) “crackdown” on Hong Kong fits into the overall trend of the strengthening role of the Communist Party of China and its leader Xi Jinping in China’s life, which was the main outcome of the 6th Plenum of the 18th Congress of China’s leading party; – the strong statements made by the USA and the EU on the violation of human rights in Hong Kong will hardly affect the degree of the aforementioned crackdown. For example, after producing its latest report on the situation in Hong Kong, Great Britain was strongly advised to refrain from interfering ; – the anticipated “moderate nature” of the policy of tightening control over the social and political life in Hong Kong will be determined by the need to maintain at least something of Taiwan’s positive appraisal of the “One Country – Two Systems” concept. The fact that the resolution of the Taiwanese problem remains a priority task for China’s leadership is confirmed by the deliberate attention on Hung Hsiu-chu who visited Beijing in late October 2016 . She took the charge of Kuomintang after the crushing defeats in the last two general elections in Taiwan ; – it is likely that the current Chief Executive, Leung Chun-ying, will resign as a result of the above-mentioned events as well as others that have taken place in Hong Kong. He has always been pro-Beijing, and according to experts, he is close to a group inside the Communist Party leadership, which is competing with Xi Jinping. Hong Kong can currently be compared with a chicken that Beijing would have wrung the neck of a long time ago (despite any agreements with London) unless it continued laying financial “golden eggs”. In addition, ill-considered harsh measures in respect of Hong Kong may prevent the resolution of China’s key Taiwanese problem. Therefore, Beijing has to exercise patience and carefully plan its steps in respect of the former British colony. Vladimir Terekhov, expert on the issues of the Asia-Pacific region, exclusively for the online magazine “ New Eastern Outlook ”
| 0 |
Home / Health / Medical Marijuana / After Fighting for Freedom, 76-yo Vet Sentenced to Die In Prison for Treating His Illness With Pot After Fighting for Freedom, 76-yo Vet Sentenced to Die In Prison for Treating His Illness With Pot Claire Bernish April 21, 2016 17 Comments
As public frustration helps sound the death knell for the drug war, its arbitrary laws and policies appear even more absurd. In the latest inexcusable enforcement of an antiquated law, 76-year-old disabled veteran Lee Carroll Brooker will live out what should be his golden years behind bars — for simple possession of cannabis.
Brooker had been treating multiple chronic conditions with cannabis he grew in his son’s backyard; but when officials in Alabama officials discovered the three dozen plants, they threw him in prison for life — without the possibility of parole.
Thanks to a pointless mandatory minimum sentencing catchall — and the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear his case this week — Brooker has been left little recourse but to ultimately die in jail for treating his ailments with a plant.
“Alabama, like three other states, mandates a life without parole sentence for simple possession of small amounts of marijuana by people with certain prior felony convictions — and Mr. Brooker had been convicted of a string of robberies twenty years earlier in Florida, crimes for which he served ten years in prison,” The New York Times explained . “In such a case, the law doesn’t require prosecutors to prove any intent to sell the drug.”
Essentially, Brooker has been imprisoned twice for the same crime — because he sought relief from nature instead of arguably dangerous, legal and often lethal pharmaceuticals, courtesy of Big Pharma. Worse, Alabama’s already irrational law sets the cutoff in a case like this at 2.2 pounds (1 kilogram), and Brooker’s plants weighed just 2.8 pounds — but that included unusable parts, like stalks and leaves.
Make no mistake — this is an unjust law, an unjust conviction, and a ridiculous capitulation by the Supreme Court to Alabama’s archaic notion a nonviolent offense should somehow land a vet behind bars for life and separate him from his medicine — as if law were an inflexible monster to be beholden to, no matter its worth.
In fact, as the Times pointed out, “[W]hile the sentence was mandatory, the prosecutor was not required to bring the precise charges that triggered it. Prosecutorial discretion here, as in most cases, is a central factor in determining what punishment defendants face.”
In other words, the prosecutor railroaded Brooker over his personal, medicinal plants — by choice. Brooker, who joined the U.S. Army at age 17 and came under fire in both Lebanon and the Dominican Republic, eventually rose to the rank of sergeant in the 82nd Airborne — where he was decorated for infantry service.
Vox reported that even “notoriously conservative” Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore characterized Brooker’s sentence as “excessive and unjustified.” And according to the Times , the judge deciding the vet’s fate would have preferred to hand down a lighter sentence, but once the charges had been brought as they were, he was obligated to enforce the letter of the law.
Yes, this disabled man technically broke the law; but proffering such a rebuttal rings hollow, if not cold, considering the majority of Americans support cannabis legalization. Legality does not dictate morality.
A growing segment of officials and public figures do, as well, as The Free Thought Project reported recently , more than 1,000 police, world leaders, celebrities, and others signed a letter calling to summarily end the disastrous war on drugs.
In fact, though little comfort to Brooker now, the Drug Enforcement Agency will likely downgrade cannabis from its inexplicable Schedule 1 classification to Schedule 2 — as early as July of this year. Note that while a plethora of viable arguments can be asserted for rescheduling, considering states with laws like Alabama’s — and cases like Brooker’s — the slight concession by federal law would make a comparative, whopping difference.
Brooker attempted to bring his case before the highest court in the land as an inarguable violation of the Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment — to no avail. The court’s stonewall, in itself, could be considered as much — in an increasing number of states, Brooker’s so-called crime would have been perfectly legal.
For now, though, it appears the 76-year-old will suffer the consequences of bad policy, unjustifiable law, and the cruelty of ostensible authority figures who were all just doing their jobs.
Google + Harry Houston
This is a MOTION FOR DISMISSAL that has worked in the NJ court system BROUGHT TO YOU BY NJWEEDMAN. I think it can be rewritten for any state. It uses U.S Pat # 6630507. I know little of the law however; I would add UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Drug Enforcement Administration
OPINION AND RECOMMENDED RULING, FINDINGS OF
FACT, CONCLUSIONS OF LAW AND DECISION OF
ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE
FRANCIS L. YOUNG, Administrative Law Judge
DATED: SEPTEMBER 6, 1988
U.S. Pat US 20130059018 A1
United States Patent Application 20130109747
Also
At one point, 14 people were getting government MARIJUANA …
Now it is a numbers game we need to get this in as many courts as possible and keep appealing; sooner or later it will land in the lap of someone that will see it for what it is. When that happens, we win.
Pass this on to any one that is in jail or going to or might be going to court for a cannabis charge!!!
http://www.njweedman.com/PCR_challenge.pdf Lame Urinaldrama
There are many bad typos in that motion pdf. For example, “an unconstitutional law cannot be inconsistent with a valid one”, should read, “…cannot be consistent…”.
I’m not sure if he can appeal at this point. You only have 10 days post conviction in my state. Getting MJ rescheduled, or a pardon from the Governor may be possible solutions. Maybe a 1983 federal civil rights violation could get his conviction overturned. I dunno. BillOtinger
94% of the People in American Prison their was NO VICTIM States Draw Money from the Cesti Qui Vie Trust , they make Money off INMATES same when CPS, Also Called DHR takes a Child the County Makes Money , JURY NULLIFICATION is the Only Answer Right now , the JURY has the RIGHT to JUDGE the LAW James Michael
This is treason and false imprisonment. THE STATE had NO cause of action against this man. This is kidnapping and treason flat out…. Chad
because “patriots” have absolutely no clue how laws work……. Chad is a phucking idiot
You are dumber than rock. Troll boy Don
The American government has grown so enormously corrupt and the people won’t take up arms against it like the constitution tells them too…We are a nation of weak useless bystanders.. Do nothing to rock the unjust laws and corrupt politicians, which is every last one of them, and LET THE CORRUPTION OF OUR GOVERNMENT STEAL YOUR RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS RIGHT OUT FROM UNDER YOU…..It’s probably already too late to try to revolt anymore… We, the stupid ignorant lazy people,,, have let them get away with this sooo long and done absolutely nothing to stop them.. SHAME ON AMERICAN’S. My Views
Disgraceful Jerry Emery Delacruz
Well, it’s the country you fought for. And you were probably a real go getter in the war on drugs, until it came around and decided to bite you in the ass. Keep your cell clean and pay your debts, you’ll be alright. Ed Crown
Shut the fuck up you useless idiot. Jerry Emery Delacruz
There’s literally hundreds of thousands of people doing time, long time for smoking weed or getting high. There are old people, young people, veterans, church goers, and assholes. Just because this guy is a vet or old don’t make him special. If you want to change a law, enforce it on everyone and see who starts whinning. You seem to have a problem with this guy doing time but are just fine with some youngster from the hood getting 25 to life for slingin’ rock, as if his life doesn’t matter. So until you can see the big pic, go fuck yourself and your phony ass sympathy. Shari Peterson
All he has to do is re-state his union state Citizenship what he had upon being born – it was later that he adopted federal United States citizenship and all its compulsions. The “State of | 0 |
Donald J. Trump’s campaign released an open letter on Tuesday from about 90 retired generals and military officials endorsing his presidential campaign, urging a “long overdue course correction in our national security posture. ” The letter in support of Mr. Trump, signed by 88 retired military figures, comes as the campaign prepares for a week focused on national security, with a forum hosted by NBC and MSNBC on Wednesday evening alongside Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee. “The 2016 election affords the American people an urgently needed opportunity to make a long overdue course correction in our national security posture and policy,” the letter states. “As retired senior leaders of America’s military, we believe that such a change can only be made by someone who has not been deeply involved with, and substantially responsible for, the hollowing out of our military and the burgeoning threats facing our country around the world,” the generals and admirals write. “For this reason, we support Donald Trump’s candidacy to be our next commander in chief. ” Mr. Trump, the Republican nominee, is seeking to blunt an edge that Mrs. Clinton, a former secretary of state, has established either from retired military figures like Gen. John R. Allen, or from the tacit boost she could receive from Republican national security and foreign policy experts who have denounced Mr. Trump. And Mr. Trump’s reorganized campaign is looking to craft an image of him as a palatable commander in chief, particularly ahead of his first debate with Mrs. Clinton on Sept. 26. The group of signatories was put together by Maj. Gen. Sidney Shachnow of the Army, a Holocaust survivor, and Rear Adm. Charles Williams of the Navy. “I think it more than trumps” the list of people backing Mrs. Clinton, said Keith Kellogg, a retired Army lieutenant general who is advising Mr. Trump on national security. Describing the group as “national security professionals for Trump,” Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, a retired Army officer who had been under consideration to be Mr. Trump’s running mate, said it came together organically. “We had to stop accepting names because we were running out of time,” he said. “These were people that have been passing us ideas from national security to education ideas. ” Some of the people listed on the letter had supported Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential nominee in the 2012 campaign, in the to Election Day. Some were among those who had urged Congress to reject the nuclear deal with Iran. Still others have been known for making controversial statements, like Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin of the Army, who was criticized by President George W. Bush for describing the battle against Islamist terrorists as a religious proxy fight between a “Christian nation” and the “idol” of Islam. For Mr. Trump, who has proposed a ban on Muslim immigrants to halt the spread of the Islamic State, such comments are in line with his own over the last year. Lt. Gen. Thomas G. McInerney of the Air Force, who is also listed on the letter and is a Fox News military analyst, has previously submitted court documents challenging President Obama’s eligibility to serve as president, accusing him of not having been born in the United States, an accusation Mr. Trump himself once raised. General Kellogg declined to evaluate past remarks from the military figures, saying they had served their country and had earned their right to speak. In the letter, the group expresses concern that the government will persist “in the practices that have brought us to this present pass” after a series of budget cuts. “For this reason, we support Donald Trump and his commitment to rebuild our military, to secure our borders, to defeat our Islamic supremacist adversaries and restore law and order domestically,” they write. “We urge our fellow Americans to do the same. ” Mr. Trump, who often mentions veterans in his campaign speeches, said in a statement, “I thank each of them for their service and their confidence in me to serve as commander in chief. Keeping our nation safe and leading our armed forces is the most important responsibility of the presidency. ” | 1 |
Next Prev Swipe left/right Watch Lab MP claim that “The Government is hurtling towards a chaotic breakfast”
The brexit / breakfast slip strikes again and this time for Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer John McDonnell . "Hurtling towards a chaotic breakfast" https://t.co/s451F9ixoP
— Sean Clare (@Sean__Clare) October 27, 2016
The question is: is this chaotic breakfast going to be hard or soft? | 0 |
Bel Marra Health October 28, 2016
There are many reasons for fluctuating blood pressure, from the foods we eat to serious health conditions. Understanding your fluctuating blood pressure can help you protect your heart and lower your risk of any cardiovascular events.
There is an ongoing debate on what is considered healthy or normal blood pressure , but the general consensus is a reading of less than 120/80 mmHg. Blood pressure can fluctuate in a second, so if you’re concerned about yours, you should check it frequently and chart the results for your doctor to review.
Below we will outline the many different causes of fluctuating blood pressure along with tips to help manage your blood pressure.
Common causes for fluctuating blood pressure
Food sensitivities: Consuming foods that don’t agree with us can cause a spike in blood pressure. This is commonly seen in salt sensitivities or after consuming high amounts of salt. Although this issue will resolve on its own a few hours after consuming the trigger food, you may want to make diet changes in order to prevent future fluctuations.
Stress: During times of stress, our arteries constrict, causing the heart to work harder. This, in turn, raises blood pressure along with blood sugar and heart rate. If you live with chronic stress, this constant strain on the heart can lead to artery and heart damage, increasing your risk of a cardiovascular event.
Caffeine consumption: Caffeine is a stimulant, so our hearts tend to race when we consume something containing caffeine. As a result, a faster-pumping heart causes blood pressure to rise. This usually resolves within a few hours. Regular caffeine consumers may not notice the changes, but those who consume caffeine infrequently will.
Medications: Certain medications, such as decongestants and anti-inflammatories, may result in a temporary elevation of blood pressure. Illegal drugs tend to have the highest impact on blood pressure, which is what in part makes them life threatening.
Adrenal fatigue: The adrenals regulate different hormones and can take a toll on your cardiovascular health. When the adrenals become fatigued – for example, as a result of chronic stress or illness – they cannot regulate blood pressure properly, so it rises and falls.
Fever: Often a result of fighting infection, a fever can speed up heart rate, leading to a rise in blood pressure.
Calcium or cholesterol deposits in the arteries: The arteries become narrower when lined with calcium or cholesterol deposits, so the heart must work harder in order to push the blood through.
Dehydration: Insufficient hydration can result in blood pressure fluctuations with a large decrease.
Increased blood pressure fluctuations linked to impaired cognitive function in older adults
A study found that increased blood pressure fluctuations are linked to impaired cognitive function in older adults. Researchers investigated visit-to-visit blood pressure variability with cognitive function among seniors who were at a high risk for cardiovascular disease.
The study looked at 5,461 seniors over the age of 70 with an average follow-up time of three years.
Blood pressure was measured every three months in the same clinical setting, and the variability between the measurements was analyzed.
Selective attention and reaction time, general cognitive speed, immediate and delayed memory performance were also assessed.
The researchers found that blood pressure variability was associated with worse performance on all cognitive tests, and the results remained the same even after taking into consideration cardiovascular disease risk factors.
Higher visit-to-visit blood pressure variability was associated with the lower cognitive function, as well as higher stroke risk.
Researcher Simon Mooijaart explained , “We showed that high visit-to-visit systolic and diastolic blood pressure variability associated with worse performance in different domains of cognitive function, including selection attention, processing speed, immediate verbal memory, and delayed verbal memory.”
Whether higher blood pressure variability is a cause or a result of cognitive impairment is still unclear.
The researchers concluded , “Higher visit-to-visit blood pressure variability independent of average blood pressure might be a potential risk factor with worse cognitive performance in older subjects at high risk of cardiovascular disease.”
Tips to manage blood pressure fluctuations naturally
In order to manage your blood pressure fluctuations, it’s important to understand their cause. For example, avoiding trigger foods, staying well hydrated, reducing your LDL cholesterol , preventing illness and fever, watching your caffeine intake, and reducing stress naturally can all help better manage your blood pressure fluctuations.
Generally, to maintain healthy blood pressure, it’s important to quit smoking, reduce alcohol intake, eat healthy meals, exercise regularly, reduce stress, sleep well, and maintain a healthy weight. By making these healthy lifestyle adjustments you can achieve healthier blood pressure readings. The Best of Dr. Victor Marchione Tags: Dr. Victor Marchione [ ] is a respected leader in the field of smoking cessation and pulmonary medicine. He has been featured on ABC News and World Report, CBS Evening News with Dan Rather and the NBC Today Show. He is also the Editor of The Health eTalk Newsletter. | 0 |
Calling it a shameless, “political stunt,” former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s website is not impressed with San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s $50K donation to the Meals On Wheels program. [Palin’s website slammed Kaepernick’s donation saying, “SERIOUSLY? Colin Kaepernick Just Pulled ANOTHER Political Stunt. ” Along with its knock against Kaepernick, the article written by website contributor Mary Kate Knorr noted that Donald Trump did not defund the Meals On Wheels program, gossip site TMZ reported. The player, who spent the past NFL season protesting against the country by refusing to stand for the playing of the national anthem, recently declared himself a free agent but has thus far been unable to find a new team to continue his pro football career. The Palin article specifically cited the player’s protests. “His last stunt cost him the respect of most NFL officials, as teams across the country have chosen not to offer Kaepernick a contract following his stunt last year,” the piece insisted. Kaepernick did make his donation after liberals and the media began claiming that President Trump’s budget plan defunded the charitable program that feeds tens of thousands of needy Americans. But, despite the media’s claims that Trump was taking money away from the program, a closer examination of the president’s budget revealed he wasn’t actually proposing any cuts to the program at all. Ultimately, after TMZ highlighted the Palin article, for an unexplained reason the piece was pulled down from the former governor’s website. Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail. com. | 1 |
All eyes on Electoral delegates. The People know where they live! | 0 |
0 88 0 1 After running one of the most divisive presidential campaigns in US history, the Trump brand has taken a hit -- literally.
In 2007, Donald Trump was granted a coveted spot on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work on his reality show, “The Apprentice.” With limited real estate, the decision to enshrine reality stars on the sidewalk has always been controversial.
Trump’s star has become especially unwelcome. — MEFeater Magazine (@mefeater) October 26, 2016
In the early hours of Wednesday morning, a man dressed as a city worker used a sledgehammer and pickaxe to deface the presidential hopeful’s star, removing the brass star and scraping his name from the sidewalk. — Ol' QWERTY Bastard (@TheDiLLon1) October 26, 2016
According to Deadline , the vandal has been identified as Jamie Otis, who said he intended to remove the entire section of sidewalk in order to sell it at auction. Proceeds, he said, would go toward supporting the multiple women who have accused Trump of sexual assault.
The stars are maintained by the Hollywood Historic Trust, and the group has already said that the individual responsible will be prosecuted "to the full extent of the law," and repairs are already underway. — Adelle Nazarian (@AdelleNaz) October 26, 2016
"The Hollywood Walk of Fame is an institution celebrating the positive contributions of the inductees," said Leron Gubler, head of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, according to Deadline. "When people are unhappy with one of our honorees, we would hope that they would project their anger in more positive ways than to vandalize a California State landmark."
If found guilty, the individual responsible could face up to three years in jail and a fine of $10,000.
The Trump star has been vandalized on a number of occasions since he began his presidential campaign. In January, a vandal spray-painted a reverse swastika over the star. — afterglow (@afterglow2046) October 26, 2016
Two similar incidents occurred over the summer. In June, a mute sign was spray-painted over the spot. One month later, a street artist erected a miniaturized wall around the star, a reference to the Republican candidate’s proposal to construct a barrier along the US-Mexico border.
Of course, given that his divisive rhetoric on the campaign trail appears to be affecting his brand, Trump may soon start defacing his own properties. Amid rumors that the billionaire is removing the Trump name from his hotels, the Trump organization has announced plans to launch a new brand under the less identifiable name "Scion." ... | 0 |
Praedor on Links 11/9/16 It's all crap, aiming for the infield instead... Praedor on Links 11/9/16 I find the cult of personality extremely disturbing... Praedor on Links 11/9/16 Isn't more accurate to say, "Who cares what... Adamski on Links 11/9/16 I want him to go for the jugular.... aab on Links 11/9/16 You give her way more credit than I... Topics | 0 |
VN:F [1.9.22_1171]
Close Transcript Transcript:
Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. Most deaths in the United States are preventable, and related to nutrition. According to the most rigorous analysis of risk factors ever published, the Global Burden of Disease study, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the number one cause of death in the United States, and the number one cause of disability in this country, is our diet—which has bumped tobacco smoking to number two. Smoking now only kills about a half million Americans every year, whereas our diet now kills hundreds of thousands more. So, if most death and disability is preventable, and related to nutrition, then obviously, nutrition is the number one thing taught in medical school; right? It’s the number one thing your doctor talks to you about. How could there be such a disconnect between the science, and the practice, of medicine? Let’s do a thought experiment. Imagine yourself a smoker back in the 1950s. The average per capita cigarette consumption was about 4,000 cigarettes a year. Think about that. In the 1950s, the average person walking around smoked a half pack a day. The media was telling you to smoke. Famous athletes agreed. Even Santa Claus cared enough about your throat to want you to smoke. I mean, you want to keep fit, and stay slender; so, you make sure to smoke. And eat lots of hot dogs to keep trim, and lots of sugar to stay slim and trim—a lot less fattening than that apple there. I mean, sheesh. Though apples do “connote goodness and freshness,” reads one internal tobacco industry memo, which brings up many possibilities for making “youth-oriented” cigarettes. They wanted to make apple-flavored cigarettes for kids. In addition to staying fit and slender, and soothing your throat, “For digestion’s sake,” you smoke. I mean, “No curative power is claimed for [by] Philip Morris—but [hey], an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Better be safe than sorry, and smoke. Like eating, smoking was a family affair. “Gee, Mommy, you sure enjoy your Marlboro! You’re darn tootin’. Just one question, Mom: can you afford not to smoke Marlboros?” In the 1950s, your kids were giving you cigarettes. Even your dog was giving you cigarettes. “Blow in her face and she’ll follow you anywhere.”“No woman ever says no.” They’re “so round, so firm, so fully packed.” After all, John Wayne smoked them (until he got lung cancer and died). Back then, even the Paleo folks were smoking, and so were the doctors. Now, this is not to say there wasn’t controversy within the medical profession. Yes, some doctors smoked Camels, but other physicians preferred Luckies. So, there was some disagreement. “Eminent doctors, on high and impartial medical authority, call for Philip Morris.” Even the specialists couldn’t agree which cigarette was better for your throat. So, best to stick to the science. And, more scientists smoke this brand. This should not be rocket science—but even the rocket scientists had their favorite: for “the man who thinks for himself.” We know why the AMA may have been sucking up to the tobacco industry, refusing to endorse the Surgeon General’s report on smoking, after they were handed a ten million dollar check from the tobacco industry. But, why weren’t more individual doctors speaking out? Well, there were a few gallant souls ahead of their time, writing in, as there are today, standing up against industries killing millions. But, why not more? Maybe, it’s because the majority of physicians themselves smoked cigarettes—just like the majority of physicians today continue to eat foods that are contributing to our epidemics of dietary diseases. What was the AMA’s rallying cry back then? Everything in moderation. Extensive scientific studies have proven “smoking in moderation”—oh, that’s fine. Sound familiar? Eating the Standard American Diet today is like being a smoker back in the 1950s. Most everyone you know eats this way. It’s normal—it’s what they feed people in hospitals, for gosh sake. But, you don’t have to wait until society catches up with the science again. Sometimes, it takes a whole generation for things to change in medicine. The old guard of smoking physicians and medical school professors die off, and a new generation takes its place. But how many patients need to die in the interim? Please consider volunteering to help out on the site. Close Sources Video Sources vegetarians Doctor's Note
In this video, I try to answer the question that surely must occur to anyone even dipping their toes into the lifestyle medicine literature: “Wait a second, if this were true, why didn’t my doctor tell me?” If, for example, our #1 killer can be reversed through diet, why isn’t it front page news, taught to every medical student, broadcast from every mountaintop by medical organizations and government dietary guidelines? Still confused? Check out my other videos that address these questions:
Is the risk of smoking and the Standard American Diet really comparable, though? See Animal Protein Compared to Cigarette Smoking .
If you haven’t yet, you can subscribe to my videos for free by clicking here . To post comments or questions into our discussion board, first log into Disqus with your NutritionFacts.org account or with one of the accepted social media logins. Click on Login to choose a login method. Click here for help.
Wish I could take out a billboard for this one! [email protected]
Kickstarter? :) I would chip in. Gatherer
When Dr Greger isn’t limited to a short video he can make his points even more obvious! For a longer version of the content in today’s video see the last part of “Food as Medicine: Preventing and Treating the Most Dreaded Diseases with Diet”. Start at 54:46 and go to 1:12:20. I love the quotes by Dr Neal Barnard and Dr Kim Williams near the end. Plantstrongdoc M.D.
The only thing I remember from medschool regarding nutrition was my professor in cardiology saying that it is impossible to bring down the cholesterol with diet alone, you need medication, and my professor in haematology saying that it is probably healthy to be a vegetarian, but you will surely develop anaemia, and them I remember a very skilled cardiologist who inhaled huge amounts of cake between the angiograms, not to mention the child oncologist who was a heavy smoker, wrinkled in his face like a raisin and his skin had a slightly yellow tone. When I was an intern, one of my collegues brought his own dinner – chips and coke. Regarding nutrition: DONT LISTEN TO YOUR DOCTOR! The chance that he or she on the field of nutrition is an ignorant is probably near 100% plant_this_thought
The interns at the hospital I used to work at were always boasting about how little sleep they got, how crappy their diet was, etc., competing to show how much they could abuse their own bodies, as if this somehow showed their commitment to the profession of helping others to get well. lemonhead
I’ve always wondered if, due to the harsh conditions of medical training, there’s selection for particularly physically robust people and that they would, perhaps, be less sympathetic to people prone to illness having not experienced such states themselves. Ryan
Even if they taught more nutrition in medical school it wouldn’t help much if they keep using the current batch of nutrition textbooks. I’m in college for nursing right now and they’re covering nutrition in my class *right now* and I’m having to tune it out to keep myself from interrupting class on how dangerous and outdated the information they’re teaching is.
Meat and dairy is being referenced as safe and nutritious food. There is hardly mention of how diet impacts health other than preventing deficiencies and obesity. Vegans are lumped in with vegetarians and are only mentioned because of the risk of b12 and vitamin D deficit. I can go on and on… it’s infuriating.
I don’t know whether it’s more frustrating that a whole generation of new nurses is being prejudiced against a whole plant foods diet or that the professors who say ‘evidence-based practice’ in every other breath won’t bother changing the curricula to match the science. Plantstrongdoc M.D.
Good point. Places where nutrition is taught, it is not exactly Greger, Esselstyn, McDougall, Klaper they refer to.“Meat and dairy is being referenced as safe and nutritious food”– OK there is still a long way.“nutritional deficiencies (probably referring to vitamin and minerals) – which century does the teachers come from? :-) Ryan
Well the one professor jokes that she used to work with Florence Nightingale… Betsy
I’ve been eating about 97% vegan for 8 years or so based on the writings of the docs you mentioned, but now I’m very confused because docs like Mark Hyman who is well respected in the functional medicine field and works at the Cleveland Clinic, studies showing to eat more fat – granted its fat like avocado/coconut oil and he says not to eat it with unhealthy carbs, but his talks with other professionals on his Fat Summits don’t seem to be in alignment with the docs you mentioned. In fact I know Dr. Esselstyn thinks all oils are a waste of calories. Mark said on one of the videos that his LDL has gone way up from eating so much coconut oil, but these folks are citing studies too. It’s very confusing. Thea
Betsy: . When all is said and done, Hyman is citing studies, but he is misleading people in various ways when he does it. VegCoach found the following 4 minute video about one of Mark Hyman’s claims that demonstrates my point. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RovJRlTbsgw&feature=youtu.be . Also, the following post from Tom Goff looks into some of the other of Hyman’s claims. http://nutritionfacts.org/2016/03/22/the-effects-of-dietary-cholesterol-on-blood-cholesterol/#comment-2584872026 . I agree that it *is* terribly confusing for most people. It really frustrates me that a lack of integrity and basic human decency is affecting the very lives of so many people. Jean
Am I the only one that at 100% volume can barely hear this video? Thea
Jean: The volume is working fine for me and no one else has mentioned the volume as being an issue. . I’m not sure if this will be worth it to you or not, but you might narrow down the issue by trying other recent videos on this site to see if you experience the same problem and then try a video or two on a different browser. Maybe whatever you find out with these experiments will help you narrow down the problem??? . Sorry I don’t have anything more concrete for you. John
I did have to turn it up in order to hear all the words on a technical subject. John S docbeccy
I agree! When Dr. Hyman’s book on the sugar solution came out I got a free advance excerpt. I was stunned to see he recommended BACON!! I tried to engage in a dialogue as to why he thought a high fat, nitrate laden, version of cured meat belonged in anyone’s diet but I never got a response. When I visited the Canyon Ranch Spa this summer and spoke with their medical director he was very sad that one of their former medical directors was clearly less interested in patient health than other priorities. One needs to be judicious as we wade through the conflicting experts. Thea
docbeccy: Thank you for your reply. That’s some interesting insight. . re: “…wade through conflicting experts.” One of the biggest mistakes I see people making is along the lines of false equivalencies. I see it all the time here on NutritionFacts. “You say this, but these other people say something else and they have valid points too.” There are times when a “side” is not equally valid. If you give equal weight to all sides without having the ability to filter (as most people do not when it comes to nutrition), then you can end up confused and/or finding a balance between two view points which is not actually reasonable/balanced/based on the evidence. . I wish there was a way to help people see through this, but I don’t think there is at this time. People are just massively confused, often invested in that confusion, and I don’t judge them. It is tough! At some point, I think the situation will be like the smoking issue and everyone will just get it instinctively, because like the smoking issue at some point the science (and noticing the health of WFPB eaters long term) will win out. In the mean time, we can do our part to help by continuing to volunteer on NutritionFacts. :-) Plantstrongdoc M.D.
Well – I think it is important to look at the big lines, because there are small differences between what these great docs (and others) recommend. E.g. McDougall is very fond of starches and has nothing against a little salt, Furhmann is very fond of beans and vegetables, for some a little processed oil is OK, For Ornish small amounts of egg white is OK and so on. Common to them is they recommend a mostly vegan diet – I think that is the important point John
Hi Betsy, I have been saying this for a long time. You’ll never see this here, but other scientists critique Dr. Greger’s finding the same way as Thea does about Dr. Hyman below. I just try to listen to all of them that seem to have substance and sift them through my own filter. John S Thea
John S: Did you watch that 4 minute video? I’ve never seen Dr. Greger make a claim about a study where the study actually says the very opposite of Dr. Greger’s claim–not the way that Dr. Hyman did. I highly recommend watching that 4 minute video. John
Yes, I did watch the 4 minute video. I also saw the Klaper video. I was only allowed to see the viewpoint of the person making the video, and he wasn’t honest about what Dr. Hyman actually said. Hyman was talking about calories burned by people when they ate different things,and the video never addressed the issue that Hyman brought up. John S Thea
John: FYI: I looked into this video in the past. I went to Hyman’s site and I read his claims and then examined the claims in the video. I do not remember see any discrepancies. Anyway, glad you got to see the video. . Note, I did not reference a Dr. Klaper video in the above post. I don’t know what you are referring to. Kwarya
Was just telling MY nursing professor the same sort of thing today when our book and her lecture were touting certain foods, most if which fall in the “animal products” category! There is never a single reference in my nursing books to a healthier lifestyle other than going “low fat” (with the SAD). Misterimpatient
For the record, John Wayne died of stomach cancer (1979) not lung cancer. He had a lung removed in 1964 due to lung cancer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wayne Plantstrongdoc M.D.
Smokers also have an increased risk of stomach cancer. Misterimpatient
Thank you. I understand that. The video says he died of lung cancer, which is not correct. Rhombopterix
he got lung cancer: true and he died: true
how does your comment help us? Misterimpatient
If there is one thing we count on from nutritionfacts.org it is accurate information. Go to 3:10 in the video and consider the content “…until he got lung cancer and died.” An honest listener will hear this and think that lung cancer was the cause of death. In fact, stomach cancer was the cause of death in very source I found.
So how does my comment help? It attempts, without contempt for others, to correct verifiably incorrect information in the video. Thea
Misterimpatient: I will pass this onto staff. Todd
Good point. Attention to detail is important on a site like this. It’s possible, I suppose, that the stomach cancer that took John Wayne’s life was a metastasis of the original lung cancer, in which case the original cancer would be cited as the cause of death. But unless we know that for sure, it’s not a good idea to state that he died of lung cancer. Plantstrongdoc M.D.
Typically lung cancer spread to the brain, bone or liver. Tired of War
While Wayne’s 6 pack-a-day cigarette habit might have had something to do with his death, I’m pretty sure that the ultimate reason for his demise was his role as Genghis Khan, in the movie, “The Conqueror.” The film was shot downwind from active, above ground, nuclear bomb testing sites, in 1956, and quite a few of those involved in the filming succumbed to cancer in the years that followed. I fear that there are some historical personalities that one should portray, with great caution. Misterimpatient
Well played. Very well played indeed. George
I don’t know about you, but there is a certain amount of people for whom the truth is important. And also there are people (like our host) how ask others to point out eventual mistakes in their work. Unless you have a hostile relationship with the truth, Misterimpatient’s comment should help you, too. Colonel Forbin
Sick world we live in. Robbin
I think back then tobacco companies were paying off everyone now pharmaceutical companies are paying off everyone. Maybe a lot of doctors smoked back in the day, but I think a lot of doctors like their pills today. There is no money in gardening, but there is in pill popping. I think sometimes it would be easier just to eat like everyone else, then I remember I don’t want to feel like sh*t like everyone, or be on medications like everyone. Blair Rollin
It sure would be a lot easier. I do a whole lotta kitchen time since we switched to WFPB. But then again, I’m passing most people even 30 years younger than me out on the trail. And I can stand to look in the mirror. Ellen Mulcrone
Hello,
I was wondering if anyone knew how to treat Lichen Sclerosus with diet, and if anyone had found any scientific based evidence to support this? I can’t find anything on the site.
Thanks! | 0 |
Turkey Repeatedly Demanded US Not Allow Kurds to Participate by Jason Ditz, October 27, 2016 Share This
US officials are making clear that they intend to invade Raqqa really soon, with the ISIS capital scheduled to be attacks in the middle of the ongoing offensive against the city of Mosul. But while the Mosul invasion has a coalition of at least sort of friendly factions participating. No such coalition exists for Raqqa.
Indeed, the US has insisted that the Kurdish YPG will be the overwhelming majority of the force, because they’re the only force available in the area with enough fighters to realistically attack the city. Yet Turkey has been outright livid over this, and has repeatedly demanded that the Kurds not be allowed anywhere near Raqqa.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan insists his country will be invading Raqqa, along with the YPG-held city of Manbij, very soon, and while they’ll doubtless also do some fighting against ISIS on the way, it’s pretty clear this is going to include some heavy fighting with the Kurds .
That’s likely to complicate, and potentially outright derail, the invasion of Raqqa, as the Kurdish YPG can’t fight ISIS and Turkey at the same time, and the US seems wholly incapable of keeping Turkey from launching attacks on the Kurds in the middle of anti-ISIS operations. Last 5 posts by Jason Ditz | 0 |
Immigration Surging; 1.5 Million Arriving Each Year Karen Zeigler and Steven A. CamarotaCenter for Immigration Studies, November 1, 2016
A Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) analysis of newly released data from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) shows that 1.5 million new immigrants (legal and illegal) settled in the country in 2014. The number who entered in 2014 represent an increase of 38 percent over the number who were arriving as recently as 2011. The findings confirm a CIS study published in June of this year based on other data showing a surge in legal and illegal immigration in 2014 and 2015. Newly arrived immigrants include new green card holders (permanent residents); long-term “temporary” visitors who often stay permanently, such as guest workers and foreign students; and new illegal immigrants.
View the entire report here .
“The data makes clear that the slowdown in immigration that occurred after the Great Recession is over,” said the Center’s Director of Research Steven Camarota. He added, “many of these new arrivals are guest workers brought in at the behest of the business community. Whether this is in the best interest of American workers or the country as a whole is a question seldom asked in Washington.”
• Newly released data show 1.5 million new immigrants (legal and illegal) arrived in 2014. Data released for the first six months of 2015 indicates that 1.6 million new immigrants likely arrived in 2015.
• The number who arrived in 2014 represents a 17% increase over the number who came in 2013 and a 38 percent increase over the low point in 2011.
• Between two-third and three-fourths of the 1.5 million new immigrants settling in the country are legal immigrants, including permanent residents as well as long-term visitors (e.g. guest workers and foreign students). The remainder are new illegal immigrants.
• The overall immigrant population grew about twice as fast from 2013 to 2015 as it did in the prior four years, hitting a new record high of 43.3 million.
• It is important to note that arrivals are offset by those immigrants who leave the country each year and by normal mortality of about 300,000 annually among the existing immigrant population. Therefore, growth in the overall immigrant population is less than new arrivals.
• As a share of the U.S. population, 13.5 percent are now immigrants–the highest percentage in 105 years. As recently as 1970, less than 5 percent of the population were immigrants.
• Based on current trends and Census Bureau projections, the immigrant share of the population is on track to surpass the highest level in American history seven years from now.
• Sending regions with the largest numerical increases in immigrants living in the United States since 2010 were East Asia (up 847,000), South Asia (up 825,000), the Caribbean (up 434,000), Sub-Saharan Africa (up 390,000), the Middle East (up 362,000), and Central America (up 332,000). The number of European immigrants declined by 31,000.
• Major sending countries with the largest numerical increases in immigrants living in the United States since 2010 were India (up 609,000), China (up 510,000), the Philippines (up 205,000), the Dominican Republic (up 184,000), El Salvador (up 138,000), Cuba (up 106,000), Nigeria (up 104,000), Guatemala (up 97,000), Haiti (up 88,000), Pakistan (up 80,000), Honduras (up 76,000), Bangladesh (up 75,000), Venezuela (up 71,000), Colombia (up 63,000), Vietnam (up 60,000), and Iraq (up 55,000).
• Major sending-countries with the largest percentage increases in immigrants living in the United States since 2010 were Saudi Arabia (up 115 percent), Bangladesh (up 49 percent), Nigeria (up 48 percent), Egypt and Iraq (each up 35 percent), India (up 34 percent), Ethiopia (up 32 percent), Pakistan (up 27 percent), Ghana (up 25 percent), the Dominican Republic (up 21 percent), Honduras (up 15 percent), Guatemala and the Philippines (each up 12 percent), and Iran (up 11 percent).
• States with the largest numerical increases in the number of immigrants from 2010 to 2015 were California (up 538,000), Texas (up 529,000), Florida (up 428,000), New York (up 232,000), New Jersey (up 133,000), Massachusetts (up 112,000), Maryland (up 108,000), Virginia (up 108,000), Pennsylvania (up 98,000), Washington (up 94,000), Georgia (up 81,000), Minnesota (up 79,000), and North Carolina (up 76,000).
• States with the largest percentage increases in the number of immigrants from 2010 to 2015 were North Dakota (up 72 percent), Wyoming (up 39 percent), West Virginia (up 31 percent), South Dakota (up 25 percent), Delaware (up 22 percent), Minnesota (up 21 percent), Alaska (up 19 percent), Mississippi (up 18 percent), Tennessee and New Hampshire (each up 15 percent), Nebraska and Oklahoma (each up 14 percent), and Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Texas (each up 13 percent). | 0 |
(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the .) Good evening. Here’s the latest. 1. The Dallas police chief, David Brown, said a search of the home of the Army veteran who killed five officers last week turned up equipment. He said officers around the country were concerned about more reprisals for police shootings, and revealed that he had received a death threat. And he voiced the frustrations of his profession. “Every societal failure, we put it off on the cops to solve,” he said, listing the untreated mentally ill, drug problems, failing schools, broken families, even stray dogs. “That’s too much to ask,” he said. _____ 2. President Obama was at work on a speech for Tuesday’s memorial in Dallas for the fallen officers. His hopes for a unifying message were clouded by criticism. Black Lives Matter activists want him to go to Minnesota or Louisiana to honor black residents killed by officers, while conservatives blame him for fostering divisions. Former President George W. Bush, a Texas resident, is also speaking at the memorial. _____ 3. “It is the most surprising result of my career. ” That’s a Harvard economics professor, pictured above center, with his research team. Their study confirmed that police officers are more likely to manhandle and blacks than whites, but not to shoot blacks more often. The finding runs counter to the perception created by police shootings. _____ 4. Britain’s shift to a new prime minister to navigate the painful exit from the European Union suddenly accelerated. David Cameron, who had expected to step down this fall, told reporters he would cede power on Wednesday to the newly unopposed home secretary, Theresa May, above with her husband. His lapel mike then caught him entering 10 Downing Street singing. _____ 5. Republicans convened to hash out details of their convention platform. There was pushback against some of Donald Trump’s more contentious proposals. Mr. Trump has been guarded in his comments about the Dallas attack and the two police shootings earlier last week. But concerns are rising over the potential for violence at next week’s Republican convention in Cleveland. Ohio laws allow firearms to be openly carried. _____ 6. Have you noticed an increase in distracted walking? Pokémon Go has swept the U. S. and other countries since being released last week. The game uses augmented reality, overlaying digital imagery on the real world. So people are wandering all over the place, waving their phones to find and capture exotic Pokémon monsters. _____ 7. Gabby Douglas, the defending gymnastics champion from the 2012 Olympics, celebrated her spot on the team headed to Rio after a shaky performance during weekend trials. Now 20, she is one of the older U. S. team members. _____ 8. A review of data on roughly 10, 000 physician faculty members at 24 U. S. medical schools revealed that women’s incomes averaged nearly $20, 000 less a year than male colleagues’. “At the end of the day, it’s not fair,” said a female doctor who wrote an editorial to accompany the analysis in the Journal of the American Medical Association. _____ 9. The U. S. will deploy 560 troops to help drive the Islamic State from the city of Mosul, the largest escalation the Obama administration has made in Iraq. Some 5, 000 U. S. troops are now in the country. _____ 10. One of our stories today: Our reporter’s account of weeks spent in Saudi Arabia trying to understand the conservative Islam practiced there. He found a society in conflict. Witness the tale of a onetime Saudi religious enforcer who, based on research on early Islam, began arguing that there was no need to close shops for prayer, bar women from driving or insist they cover their faces. The result: death threats. _____ 11. Finally, good news. It turns out that two of childhood’s more maligned habits, and might actually improve the immune system. And visits to the dentist are getting a lot easier, thanks to a fluid, silver diamine fluoride, that can replace drilling and filling. One dentist praised it as “better, faster, cheaper” and “less trauma for the kid. ” More good news: Adults can use it too. _____ Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p. m. Eastern. And don’t miss Your Morning Briefing, posted weekdays at 6 a. m. Eastern, and Your Weekend Briefing, posted at 6 a. m. Sundays. Want to look back? Here’s the Weekend Briefing. What did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at briefing@nytimes. com. | 1 |
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Two men who have reported extensively on jihadists and their activities have sued President Trump and members of his administration based on their belief that the government has put them on a “kill list” meant for terrorists, according to court documents. Although they have worked in war zones and had contact with many members of Al Qaeda and other extremist groups, the men, Bilal Abdul Kareem and Ahmad Muaffaq Zaidan, deny that they are members of militant organizations. In their federal lawsuit, filed on Thursday in Washington, they provide little evidence that they are on the United States kill list, which is classified, and current and former American counterterrorism officials expressed skepticism that their activities would get them marked for death by a program meant to eliminate terrorists actively plotting violence against America. Mr. Abdul Kareem, a former standup comedian who grew up in Mount Vernon, N. Y. has been reporting from areas in northern Syria, where he has filmed uncritical interviews with Qaeda members. Mr. Zaidan is a former bureau chief for Al Jazeera in Pakistan and one of the few journalists to interview Osama bin Laden before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The men’s lawyers and Reprieve, a human rights group in Britain that filed the lawsuit, hope that it will force the government to not only to clarify the men’s status, but to divulge information about a highly secretive program that has killed many militants, including Anwar an American cleric who died in a drone strike in Yemen in 2011. American officials argue that covert drone strikes are an effective tool against terrorism that have removed key threats from the battlefield in places like Yemen, Somalia and Syria. Critics say the program allows the government to kill people outside of any legal process to determine their innocence or guilt. “Under three presidents now the U. S. government has had a policy of putting people, including U. S. citizens, on kill lists based on secret evidence and still largely secret criteria without meaningful oversight even after the fact,” said Hina Shamsi, the director of the National Security Project at the American Civil Liberties Union, which was not involved in the case. The men’s lawyer, Jeffrey D. Robinson, said that they should be given the right to contest their inclusion on any list that could get them killed. “Before the state applies its power in force to lead to my death, give me an opportunity to show that you got the wrong person,” said Mr. Robinson, a senior counsel in the Washington office of Lewis Baach. The case revolves around the suspicion that the men’s association with members of Al Qaeda and other militant groups in the course of their reporting has led to their classification as terrorists. Mr. Abdul Kareem said he believed that he was on the list because he had nearly been killed in airstrikes five times in the last year, at least one of them from a drone, according to court papers. According to Clive Stafford Smith, the Founder of Reprieve, Mr. Abdul Kareem was also informed by a Turkish intelligence official that the United States was seeking to kill him. Mr. Zaidan, who has both Pakistani and Syrian citizenship, thinks he is on the list based on documents from the National Security Agency leaked by Edward J. Snowden and published by The Intercept. The documents appear to be slides from a presentation about a technology that uses metadata from cellphones to identify couriers for Al Qaeda. One slide contained a picture of Mr. Zaidan, alleging that he is a member of Al Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood, in addition to being an employee of Al Jazeera. It also showed that he had an identification number in the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment, or TIDE, the lowest level of the government’s terrorism watch list. After the information was published, Mr. Zaidan, fearing for his life, fled Pakistan for Qatar, where Al Jazeera is based, according to the lawsuit. The case, filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, names 12 defendants all believed to be involved in the United States’ covert drone program. They include Mr. Trump, the heads of the Central Intelligence Agency and Department of Homeland Security, and the departments of Justice and Defense. The government has 60 days to respond, and could argue that the court lacks jurisdiction to rule on such matters. The C. I. A. declined to comment and the National Security Agency did not respond to a request for comment. But officials familiar with the government’s procedures for targeting suspected terrorists expressed skepticism about the men’s claims that they are on the kill list. Under a 2013 document called the Presidential Policy Guidance, issued under President Barack Obama but still in effect, only people judged to pose a “continuing, imminent threat to U. S. persons” can be targeted outside a conventional war zone. In addition, the rules say that targeted killing should take place only if capture is “infeasible,” which usually means the target is in a lawless area where arrest would be impossible or hazardous. Mr. Zaidan’s inclusion in the TIDE database would get him additional attention if he tried to fly to the United States. But by itself, it would not come close to meeting the standard necessary to put him on a kill list, according to government officials and outside experts, who requested anonymity to discuss a secret operation. His presence in Qatar, where he could easily be arrested, would also protect him against targeted killing, the experts added. As for Mr. Kareem, his status as an American citizen would mean any decision to target him would require an additional legal review by the Justice Department, as occurred in the case of Mr. Awlaki. Mr. Awlaki’s father, Nasser went to court twice to challenge the government’s actions in the case of his son: first, to demand that he be removed from the kill list, and second, after his death, to demand that the government release more of the evidence against him. Both lawsuits were dismissed, so the issues they raised were never fully adjudicated. | 1 |
Shaqueana Peoples’s mother quit on her when she was 15. She had been told by a doctor earlier in 2005 that she had Type 2 diabetes, but her mother ignored doctor’s orders meant to help improve her daughter’s health. She continued to order takeout for dinner, bought frozen meals and did not make sure her daughter took her medicine. Ms. Peoples’s health rapidly deteriorated. She was rushed to the hospital nearly 20 times that year because of medical emergencies. Sick and not attending school, she was assigned a social worker, who also looked for signs of possible parental neglect. Then, during one of a series of routine hospitalizations, hospital employees suggested that her mother place her in the foster care system. “I didn’t have a choice,” Ms. Peoples recalled. “I felt abandoned, like my mother had given up on me. Looking back, she didn’t know how to deal with me as well as her other two kids. She didn’t show me the same kind of love as the others, and I’d been in a rage for years. ” As the middle child, Ms. Peoples had often felt left out, as her mother favored her older brother and younger sister. She said she was rebellious as a teenager, and often got into explosive fights with her mother. Contentious family life was all she knew. Then she was moved into the foster care system. “I was nervous. I was crying. I was conflicted,” she said. “I’d been with my family all my life. I didn’t know how to live with someone that wasn’t part of my family. ” A month after entering an group home in Brooklyn, Ms. Peoples ran away. Over the next six years, she moved through one group home and six family placements, carrying her belongings from one home to the next in a suitcase provided by her social worker. She preferred to live in a household with other foster children, and not with biological children, because she was treated more fairly, she said. Her frequent moves meant enrolling in different schools and meeting new teachers, and she fell further behind in school with every relocation. She eventually dropped out of school in 10th grade, when she was 17. She became too old for the foster care system at 21. The Children’s Aid Society, one of eight organizations supported by The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund, was there with her during all the moves and has continued to provide her with help since she entered the system 11 years ago. At one point, Children’s Aid helped place Ms. Peoples in a facility in Virginia for children with disabilities, to have her diabetes monitored. The Children’s Aid Society also helped ease her transition out of the foster care system, through a program that provides housing assistance and job training. She learned to drive, enrolled in high school equivalency classes, obtained licenses in certified nursing and home health treatment, applied for subsidized housing and put money into savings. Social workers at the Children’s Aid Society guided her through every step, she said. When she graduated from the Borough of Manhattan Community College with an associate degree in community health, the Children’s Aid Society provided her with $100 in Neediest Cases funds to buy a dress for the graduation ceremony. Ms. Peoples now attends Hunter College, where she receives financial aid through academic scholarships. She qualified for assistance through a program for foster children that supplies $753 a month for school and living expenses. Ms. Peoples also receives Medicaid, $190 in food stamps and a $200 monthly stipend for living expenses from Children’s Aid, provided to foster children attending college. Children’s Aid also used $457 in Neediest Cases funds toward two months in rent arrears. In 2014 the organization used $1, 098 in Neediest Cases funds to cover rent and living expenses, as well as a MetroCard to travel to class. On a recent November day, walking along the college’s colorful indoor bridge that connects buildings across Lexington Avenue, Ms. Peoples, now 27, spoke animatedly about majoring in biology. Her bright smile carried through a conversation about her darkest moments entering the foster care system and about the pride she felt celebrating her first graduation this summer. Dressed in a floral jacket and black leather boots and carting a snakeskin bag filled with schoolbooks and healthy snacks, she said she was working to take care of herself, both inside and out. “I wanted to better understand and monitor my diabetes,” Ms. Peoples said about deciding on her major. “Not just to go to the doctor to get information but to know how the food I eat interacts with my body. ” She recently became a member at a gym, has started taking Zumba and yoga classes at school and is rollerblading at a park in her Bronx neighborhood. She also cooks most of her food — baked chicken is a frequent meal — and incorporates whole wheat into her diet. Because of her lifestyle changes, she is now off all diabetes medication and can maintain normal blood sugar levels with diet and exercise. She has lost more than 50 pounds in the last six months. Now she would like to help others in impoverished communities make healthy dietary decisions, she said. She is pursuing a career in social work. Specifically, after seeing the effects of poverty in the Bronx, she has turned her attention to the plight of the homeless. “Having a support system through hardship is so important,” she said. “And oftentimes the homeless don’t have that. The situation of the homeless lays heavy on my heart. That’s where I see my chance to help others. ” | 1 |
Our full report on the 2016 Emmy Awards | red carpet looks | our critic’s review of the show ] You’ll have to excuse television if it’s feeling a little powerful right now. Maybe a little too powerful. The medium dominates conversations while film buffs are arguing whether the movies are dying. There are ever more scripted series — a record 409 last year — and more outlets to put them on. And as the host Jimmy Kimmel reminded us at Sunday night’s Emmy Awards on ABC, a personality is close to running the whole show in America — even if that wasn’t a point of pride to the host or to much of the crowd. “If it wasn’t for television, would Donald Trump be running for president?” Mr. Kimmel asked in a scathing run of jokes, pointing out the producer of “The Apprentice” in the audience. “Thanks to Mark Burnett, we don’t have to watch reality shows anymore, because we’re living in one. ” The cultural ubiquity of TV was a theme of the night, and so was the tension between the night’s crowd of stars and winners and the TV entertainer who’s dominated the year’s nonfiction programming. It started with the opening sketch, in which Mr. Kimmel hitched a ride to the ceremony with several celebrities. Among them was Jeb Bush, one of several Republicans defenestrated by Mr. Trump, who said that he was now driving for Uber. “If you run a positive campaign, voters will ultimately make the right choice,” Mr. Bush said, adding, “That was a joke. ” He wasn’t the only one joking about Mr. Trump, however ruefully. The comedian Aziz Ansari, of Netflix’s “Master of None,” declared that he was going to enforce Mr. Trump’s policies and order Muslims and Hispanics out of the audience. “America Ferrera?” he said to the actress. “Nice try changing your name to ‘America.’ You’re not fooling anybody!” As expected, it was a big night for FX’s “The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story,” a limited series that, like the campaign, represented a powerful synthesis of reality and entertainment. The series also exemplified how the Emmys cleared the admittedly low bar of diversity set by the 2016 Oscars, all of whose acting nominees were white. It not only showcased actors — Courtney B. Vance and Sterling K. Brown won for lead and supporting — but it also made race (and, through Sarah Paulson’s character, Marcia Clark, gender) a subject. That was also true of “Master of None,” whose Alan Yang and Mr. Ansari shared a award for an episode about immigrant families. And while the industry still hasn’t achieved parity for female directors, two women won directing awards: Susanne Bier for the limited series “The Night Manager” and Jill Soloway for her comedy “Transparent,” who ended her acceptance speech, “Topple the patriarchy!” Regarding which, both the lead and supporting comedy acting categories were won by men playing women: Louie Anderson, for a supporting character on “Baskets,” and Jeffrey Tambor, again winning best actor for playing a transgender woman on Ms. Soloway’s series. Mr. Tambor used his acceptance to urge the industry to cast more transgender performers. It was up to Mr. Kimmel to tweak the of the night. “The only thing we value more than diversity,” he said, “is congratulating ourselves on how much we value diversity. ” He’s both the snarkiest of the major networks’ hosts and a TV classicist at heart, the sort of roastmaster and toastmaster who could spike the punchbowl without tipping it completely over. There was a little shaking up of the categories, which both went to winners in performances. Tatiana Maslany won for “Orphan Black,” and Rami Malek quoted his own character from “Mr. Robot”: “Please tell me you’re seeing this, too. ” The surprises ended before the night did: exactly as last year, HBO won both best drama for “Game of Thrones” ( as it raced ahead of its source books but not as deserving as FX’s “The Americans”) and best comedy for the political satire “Veep,” which last year broke the hammerlock of “Modern Family” and may now have the category in its own grip. But you can’t argue that the comedy didn’t feel of the moment. Accepting the award for best lead actress in a comedy, Julia (the star of “Veep”) said that the program “now feels like a sobering documentary. ” At the night’s end, Mr. Kimmel congratulated the awardscast for ending neatly on time: “We finished before the election came!” But as we’ve seen for a while, and the Emmys reminded us, it’s not entirely clear where TV ends and the election begins. | 1 |
Unidentified YouTuber is roaming Australia surviving completely on what he can build with his own hands Nov 14, 2016 0 0
If you’ve been following the Primitive Technology channel on YouTube, you know that it follows a man around the Far North of Queensland, Australia. The man never identifies himself, but he is constantly building and creating things with nothing more than his hands and the elements around him.
In a recent video, the man, often called “Prim,” stumbled upon a method of creating iron. It came after he created a furnace out of clay.
“My intent was not so much to make iron,” he says from his blog, “but to show that the furnace can reach a fairly high temperature using this blower. A taller furnace called a bloomery was generally used in ancient times to produce usable quantities of iron and consumed more charcoal, ore and labour.”
Still, it is amazing to see him create a method of iron extraction out of nothing but the basics.
He gets to work with his bow-drill blower and clay forge, first collecting orange iron bacteria (iron oxide) from the creek. He mixes it with powdered charcoal and wood ash, forms it into a cylindrical brick and fires it in a charcoal oven. The result is a melted iron ore slag with tiny, 1mm-sized specs of iron in it.
Fascinating. | 0 |
WASHINGTON — The United States is poring over a vast trove of new intelligence about Islamic State fighters who have flowed into Syria and Iraq and some who then returned to their home countries, information that American officials say could help fight militants on the battlefield and prevent potential plotters from slipping into Europe. Syrian Kurdish and Arab militias have seized more than 10, 000 documents and 4. 5 terabytes of digital data in recent weeks while fighting insurgents in Manbij in northern Syria, near the Turkish border, a major hub for Islamic State fighters entering and leaving Syria, American officials said. An initial American review of the material offers new clues about “foreign fighters, the networks, where they’re from,” according to Brett McGurk, President Obama’s special envoy for combating the Islamic State. Other officials said the information included the fighters’ identities, countries of origin, routes into Syria and the illicit networks that recruited and ferried them to the region. Those details are being shared with allies to help stanch the flow of militants. “We want to make sure that all that information is disseminated in a coherent way among our coalition partners,” Mr. McGurk said last week, during a meeting of foreign and defense ministers in Washington, “so that we can track the networks from the core and all the way to wherever the dots might connect, whether that is in Europe or in North Africa or Southeast Asia. ” It is the largest single trove seized in the fight against the Islamic State since Delta Force commandos raided the home of a top Islamic State financier in eastern Syria in May 2015. That operation carried off laptops, cellphones and other materials that led to airstrikes against top terrorist leaders and opened a valuable window into how the group manages its finances, brokers hostages for ransom and delegates duties within its caliphate. The latest seizure comes as a failed coup in Turkey has cast new doubts on that country’s ability and willingness to deploy military and other security forces to seal its long border with Syria. Many senior Turkish officers have been detained in a crackdown, leading American officials to worry that Turkish counterterrorism efforts will be weakened. Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter, among others, has repeatedly criticized Turkey for not doing to enough to stem the flow of fighters across its frontier. That complaint had only recently started to fade as the Turkish authorities responded to attacks in their country linked to the Islamic State. American intelligence agencies estimate that nearly 43, 000 fighters from more than 120 countries — including 250 Americans among 7, 400 Westerners — have gone or tried to go to Syria and Iraq since 2011. While Turkey’s border tightening and other intelligence and law enforcement measures have by some estimates cut in half the monthly flow into Syria and Iraq, American analysts say as many as 500 to 1, 000 fighters a month are still pouring in, with hundreds of others heeding the Islamic State’s call to go to affiliates in Libya or Afghanistan instead, or remain at home and carry out attacks from there. Earlier this month, a top United Nations official said that nearly 30, 000 of those foreign fighters remained in Syria and Iraq — far more than Western intelligence agencies had estimated. The official, Laborde, a United Nations assistant secretary general and head of its counterterrorism committee, told reporters in Geneva that as the Islamic State loses territory in Iraq and Syria, “we are seeing them return, not only to Europe but to all of their countries of origin, like Tunisia, Morocco. ” American military and intelligence analysts are combing through the documents and electronic data recovered in Manbij, hoping to add to their growing knowledge of the rosters of Islamic State fighters and to help identify, locate and attack fighters in Syria and Iraq. In a speech Wednesday at Fort Bragg, N. C. Mr. Carter described Manbij as “a key transit point for external plotters threatening our homelands. And there we’re already beginning to gain and exploit intelligence that’s helping us map their networks of foreign fighters. ” Another use of the documents is, as Mr. McGurk said, to alert foreign intelligence and counterterrorism services across Europe, the Mideast and North Africa, even as a spate of terrorist attacks in France and Germany — some apparently inspired by the Islamic State — have roiled Europe. Any information from the Manbij trove would augment the activities of a sensitive center at a military base in Jordan called Operation Gallant Phoenix. At the base, military, counterterrorism and law enforcement agencies from several countries use publicly available software to sift through information. The effort has caused turf war tensions with the C. I. A. in Jordan, but supporters of the program have prevailed, sending names and other leads back to foreign capitals for investigation. The latest trove of documents was collected in various locations in the region around Manbij, where Syrian Kurdish and Arab fighters, backed by American Special Operations commandos, have battled Islamic State fighters at a crucial junction between the Turkish border and Raqqa, the Islamic State’s de facto capital in Syria. “The operation in Manbij is about shutting down the main corridor from Raqqa and then out, in which some of the attackers that launched the Paris attacks we know traveled through that route,” Mr. McGurk said, referring to the Islamic State’s assault on Paris in November. “By shutting that down, you make it harder for them to kind of plan the kind of more coordinated attacks. ” The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, based in Britain, has reported that more than 100 civilians have died in airstrikes in and around Manbij since late May, when the militias started their offensive against Islamic State fighters there. The documents recovered in Manbij recall an American commando raid in the summer of 2007 on a suspected Qaeda safe house in the Iraqi town of Sinjar, near the Syrian border. That assault yielded documents containing information about Syrian smuggling networks used to move foreign fighters into Iraq to fight for Al Qaeda. The most significant discovery was a collection of biographical sketches that listed hometowns, dates of birth, aliases and other details for more than 700 fighters brought into Iraq since August 2006. American officials later used the information to pressure the fighters’ home countries to crack down on the flow. American officials express confidence that the latest cache will yield similar insights. “We are learning more about Daesh at all levels from this,” said Col. Christopher Garver, a spokesman for the United States military in Iraq, using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State. “We’ve learned about how they organize their governance structures to ensure they can completely control all aspects of daily life, from religious practice, to education to tax collection and management of central services. ” “We have a better understanding of how Daesh facilitates foreign fighter movements into and out of Syria and Iraq, which gives us valuable insight into stopping the flow of foreign fighters into the region,” Colonel Garver said. | 1 |
President Donald Trump is getting praise from experts on the foreign guest worker visa for his ‘Hire American’ Executive Order which calls for a review into the system’s abuse at the expense of American workers. [Although the visa is only meant to be used by a U. S. company when there are no American workers with the needed for the job, critics argue the program is riddled with abuse and fraud, leaving Americans to sometimes train their cheaper, foreign replacements before being fired. Trump’s new executive order targeting abuse by U. S. companies, as Breitbart News reported, calls for the Department of Justice (DOJ) the Labor Department and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to conduct a “full legal analysis” of all the problems negatively impacting American workers in the visa system. expert and attorney John Miano told Breitbart Texas that Trump’s move on the issue is one that is setting the administration on the right trajectory. “We’re going to want to see some later on,” Miano said in an interview. “But you can’t criticize the president for taking action. This is what we elected him for. ” Miano said the fact that Trump is mentioning the visa program, an issue that went unaddressed by at least the past two administrations, is “very big. ” Likewise, Sara Blackwell, an attorney who represents Americans who’ve been fired because programs like the applauded Trump’s move. “We hope it’s a beginning of a lot more. I’m hopeful,” Blackwell told Breitbart Texas. “But, I’m extremely happy that President Trump is talking about it and acknowledging there’s a huge problem. ” The legal review by DOJ, the DOL and DHS will include tracking down abuses within the visa program where more than 85, 000 Americans are either replaced or passed over for jobs by foreign nationals. Experts like NumberUSA’s Rosemary Jenks and the Center for Immigration Studies’ Mark Krikorian both said the legal review approach by the Trump Administration is the right way to go about ending the mass discrimination against American workers that currently takes place. “I do think it’s the right approach to take because [DOJ, Labor Dept. and DHS] have different roles to play,” Jenks told Breitbart Texas. “Abuse is handled by the Labor Department. DHS is the agency that’s setting requirements for admission. And DOJ is prosecuting the abusers. This is definitely the right approach. I hope the administration will continue talking to outside groups. ” “Clearly, by indicating that all three departments have to do a review of the program, the White House is making clear they understand the process,” Krikorian told Breitbart Texas. “The initial clearinghouse is the Department of Labor. A lot of the cheap labor aspects can be addressed by the Labor Department’s regulations and statutes. ” Krikorian said he was glad to see the Trump Administration calling for a broad review into the visa system, rather than taking smaller, administrative actions. “At the same time, it’s encouraging that they didn’t just try to change unilaterally, they understand there’s a lot of moving parts to it,” Krikorian said. “They know a lot of this has to be fixed by Congress. ” Before the Executive Order, the Trump administration worried critics of the visa after not making any changes to the system before the application process began. For instance, the Trump Administration could have changed the system from its current state of handing out visas through a random lottery, switching it to a process where the jobs are given priority. Krikorian, though, told Breitbart Texas that the lack of prior change to was mostly likely not politically driven, but rather the administration simply running out of time on the issue. Nonetheless, the new executive order has changed the outlook Americans impacted by the have on the Trump administration, Blackwell said. “Well the people who are affected by this and know this businesses model were extremely deflated when the application process started without changes,” Blackwell said. “Now, they’ve gone from hopeless to hopeful. ” Last week, Breitbart Texas exclusively reported how Trump Senior Adviser Stephen Miller held a White House meeting on the visa issue with longtime critics like Blackwell and Howard University professor Ron Hira. John Binder is a contributor for Breitbart Texas. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder. | 1 |
It was one of George W. Bush’s most viscerally powerful commercials against John Kerry in the 2004 presidential race: a pack of wolves lurking in a forest as a narrator accused Mr. Kerry of slashing intelligence gathering against terrorists. “Weakness attracts those who are waiting to do America harm,” the ad warned, as the wolves started running toward the camera. Turns out the metaphor was subtle, at least by Donald J. Trump’s standards. In his apocalyptic speech on Monday warning that terrorism could wipe out the United States — “There will be nothing, absolutely nothing, left,” he said — Mr. Trump substituted Muslim immigrants for the wolf pack. A single gunman carried out the Orlando massacre, he said. “Can you imagine what they’ll do in large groups, which we’re allowing now to come here?” Exploitation of fear has been part of the American political playbook since colonial pamphleteers whipped their neighbors into a frenzy over British misrule. It took on new potency in the nuclear age with Lyndon Johnson’s “Daisy” ad against Barry Goldwater in 1964 and Jimmy Carter’s warnings about Ronald Reagan’s finger on the button in 1980. But Mr. Trump — who drew harsh condemnation from President Obama on Tuesday — has intensified the power of fear in presidential politics by demonizing an entire religious group. And he has expanded the use of that power by stirring up fear in the aftermath of national traumas, like the San Bernardino, Calif. attack and now the Orlando shooting, that traditionally elicited measured and soothing responses from political leaders. No more. Judging from his speech on Monday, his statements throughout the campaign, and interviews with historians and psychologists, Mr. Trump has committed himself to denigrating, if not steamrolling, the conditioned responses that have long served to help unite the country in times of crisis and offer Americans a chance to grieve and heal, and regain a sense of safety. At a time when other leaders would avoid divisive language and seek to unite both their admirers and detractors, as Mr. Bush did by visiting a mosque after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Mr. Trump appears wholly focused on the idea that America has reached an existential moment and that only he can save the country, a classic tactic of demagogy. The Orlando gunman, who was born in New York to Afghan immigrants, has given Mr. Trump his biggest opportunity yet to ask his own version of Reagan’s famous question from the 1980 presidential debates: Are you safer now than you were eight years ago? Julian E. Zelizer, a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton, said Mr. Trump was using the attack as an moment. “He would see this as a confirmation of all the things he has been saying about the threat the United States faces and the need to be more aggressive,” he said. Professor Zelizer cast Mr. Trump as part of a political strain dating at least from the 1950s. “When the United States is faced with national security threats or national security crises, you play to fear, you play to the anger of the electorate and you offer promises of military might as the solution,” he said. In the jittery aftermath of a terrorist attack, people find themselves leaning on “emotional reasoning, as opposed to thinking through these kinds of issues rationally,” said Samuel Justin Sinclair, an assistant professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School and a of “The Psychology of Terrorism Fears. ” “It’s dangerous to think about making major policy decisions reactively and from a position of fear,” Dr. Sinclair said. He added: “Whether you agree with his politics or not, I think Mr. Trump’s more aggressive tactics may be one attempt at trying to assert some level of control in a situation where people feel scared and a loss of control — as a means of helping them to feel safer. The dilemma then becomes whether supporting these more extreme policies justifies the ends — particularly in terms of how it changes us as a society. ” The 36 hours after the Orlando attack showcased a stark divergence between Mr. Trump and Hillary Clinton in going about an essential presidential task: leading in a time of crisis. Mr. Trump wasted no time in casting the massacre as evidence of the accuracy of his warnings about the threat America faced and the Obama administration’s ineptitude. “Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism,” he wrote on Twitter on Sunday. Though he also said he did not want to be congratulated, he issued a statement again patting himself on the back: “Because our leaders are weak, I said this was going to happen — and it is only going to get worse. ” And on CNN the next morning, he warned that Syrian refugees were going to cause “big problems in the future,” adding, “I’ve been a pretty good prognosticator as to what’s going to be happening. ” Mr. Trump relied on a prepared text for his speech on Monday, and he lightly struck some of the more familiar notes often heard after tragedies: He said that the United States needed to respond to the attack “as one united people” and that it would remain “a tolerant and open society. ” But he also argued that the determination of Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton not to use phrases like “radical Islamic terrorism” — which would surely antagonize Muslims — was tantamount to minimizing or ignoring tough truths about the enemy facing the United States and much of the West. “The current politically correct response cripples our ability to talk and to think and act clearly,” he said. Later, he added about Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton: “They have put political correctness above common sense, above your safety, and above all else. I refuse to be politically correct. ” While Mr. Trump assailed Mrs. Clinton in his speech, Mrs. Clinton did not mention him by name in her own address on Monday. Laying out her plan to combat jihadists, Mrs. Clinton spoke of the gravity of the threat facing America but refrained from predicting doom. “I have no doubt we can meet this challenge if we meet it together,” she said. She warned against “scapegoating” and “eroding trust. ” She pointedly said that the United States was “not a land of winners and losers. ” And in calling for unity, she reached back to the Revolution, recalling how “13 squabbling colonies” managed to join together. “As I look at American history, I see that this has always been a country of ‘we,’ not ‘me,’” she said. “We stand together because we are stronger together. ” To punctuate her point, Mrs. Clinton cited the days after the Sept. 11 attacks, recalling that Mr. Bush had warned against mistreating American Muslims. “Let’s make sure we keep looking to the best of our country, to the best within each of us,” she said. Michael Signer, a Democratic activist and the author of “Demagogue: The Fight to Save Democracy From Its Worst Enemies,” lamented that the Orlando attack had afforded Mr. Trump a new opportunity to stoke fears. “This was what we were all worried about, that some kind of national disaster would come along that would give him what he wants,” he said. But some voters, after listening to Mrs. Clinton as well as Mr. Trump, said both of them were seizing on the massacre in Orlando for political purposes. “I think those two are just using this as a way to push their campaigns ahead,” said Rob Stecz, 34, who works in the health care industry in Chicago and is not planning to vote for either candidate. Clinton advisers argued emphatically that Mrs. Clinton was not exploiting Orlando but rather approaching the attack with nuance and avoiding simplistic conclusions or easy answers. Trump advisers, for their part, said Mr. Trump was simply leveling with the American people after eight years of mushy national security policy from Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama. But leveling with the American people can mean different things. The historian Doris Kearns Goodwin recalled that the “aroused demagogic fear” after Pearl Harbor had led to the internment of tens of thousands of during World War II — something Mr. Trump has said that, while he hated the idea, he might have supported at the time. Ms. Goodwin recalled the words of a young man from Seattle who had expressed shock at America as he was being herded off to a camp. “If we continue down this demagogic path,” she wrote in an email, “millions of our citizens may well be asking a similar question: Is this the same America we have known?” | 1 |
London will be guarded by record numbers of police and fortified with concrete barriers ahead of New Year’s Eve to repel Islamist attacks. [In total, 3, 800 police officers will be on duty in central London, with thousands more in the rest of the capital. The barriers are being deployed to stop cars and trucks entering the centre of the city, where they could be used to ram and run over pedestrians in scenes similar to those seen in Berlin and Nice this year. More than 100, 000 are expected to line the banks of the River Thames to watch the fireworks tonight and welcome in the New Year. Ken Marsh, chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, told the Telegraph: “I can assure you that there is a big armed operation over London. There are more armed police this year than there have been ever before. There are far more bollards that have been put in place than ever before. ” British Transport Police also made that unusual announcement that armed officers will be patrolling trains and the underground tube network. The Metropolitan Police confirmed security plans for the capital’s New Year’s Eve celebrations had been “adjusted” in the last few days in light of recent Islamist terror attacks. Superintendent Phil Langworthy, from the force, told Sky News: “Clearly we have been looking at what has happened around the world in terms of Berlin, Nice etc … and have adjusted our plans and continue to adjust our plans. ” He added that there were “both overt and covert” measures in place for security. Attacks with trucks are increasingly coming in Europe. In July, Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel killed 86 people when he drove a lorry into crowds on Nice’s seafront promenade. Earlier this month, Anis Amri killed 12 people when he drove a hijacked lorry into a Berlin Christmas market. All pictures Rachel Megawhat Breitbart London | 1 |
The rules of the job market aren’t the same for older workers. As men and women 55 and older looking for employment probably suspect, at a certain point the kinds of jobs available to them narrow significantly. New research by Matthew Rutledge, an economist at the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, found that they are increasingly being funneled into what he describes as “ ” jobs. And not surprisingly, older workers with the least education have the narrowest set of opportunities, though Mr. Rutledge found this effect was small. It turns out that “ ” jobs are a mix of service work (like managers, sales supervisors and accountants) and service work (like truck drivers, janitors and nursing aides). Absent from the top of the list are jobs calling for a fair amount of physical labor. Jobs in farming, manufacturing and repair represent less than a quarter of all new hires in this age bracket. Manufacturing employment has been in steep decline for over 20 years, but even within this shrinking sector, older workers are less likely to be hired for manufacturing jobs than their younger peers. For example, men and women age 55 to 64 are 25 percent less likely to get machine operator jobs and 58 percent less likely to get metal worker jobs. Instead, older workers are finding employment in service jobs. They are 65 percent more likely to find work in child care, 93 percent more likely to work as cabdrivers and twice as likely to find work in retail. Mr. Rutledge found that job losses among this group were greatest for jobs like machinists and clerks. Mr. Rutledge also looked for patterns in jobs that favor the older worker. Using a database that classifies each job based on the kinds of skills it requires, Mr. Rutledge found that jobs held in greater proportion by older workers tended to require higher levels of dependability and outdoor work and lower levels of active learning, numerical ability and physical skills. So, other things being equal, they are at a disadvantage for engineering jobs, but did better in real estate sales or property management. He also found that over all, these jobs tended to pay less. Jobs that favor older workers tend to pay 6 to 11 percent less than jobs that favor younger workers, mostly because these jobs call for less skill. But despite such obstacles, older people haven’t stopped turning up to work. What’s also important to remember is that the older workers in this employment data are the winners in the labor market: They’re the ones who managed to find work. The truth is that many older workers don’t. Using a longitudinal survey of households and individuals from the census, Richard Johnson, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute, found that, between 2008 and 2012, workers age 62 and older with a college degree had less than a 50 percent chance of finding work even after two years of actively looking. For the same age group without a college degree, the chances fell to 35 percent. The participation rates of baby boomers would be expected to drop as a natural consequence of aging. And this is happening. However, partly because of the Great Recession, older people have entered the work force in greater numbers than in the past. Gary Burtless, an economist at the Brookings Institution, found that between 2007 and 2014, the largest growth in the labor force among all age groups was 62 to 64 men’s participation grew 2. 9 percent, and women’s grew 4. 5 percent. This is in marked contrast to a mysterious decline in the labor force participation rate by prime age workers. There are several reasons you might see more older workers in the labor force today compared with previous generations. Fewer have pensions. Many had their finances severely damaged during the recession. People are living longer and healthier lives, and work is less physically demanding than it used to be. Additionally, the extension of unemployment benefits created an incentive for people who otherwise would have retired to continue looking for work. But still: fewer choices, lower pay, more rejections. Are these signs of age discrimination? Using a method of uncovering discrimination well known in economics, David Neumark, an economist at the University of California at Irvine, led a study that sent out 40, 000 fake résumés to employers who had posted openings. Mr. Neumark and his found that résumés suggesting an applicant was 64 to 66 years old got a response 35 percent less often than résumés suggesting that the applicant was 29 to 31. Labeling it discrimination is another matter, however. “The one thing that people always point out is that acceptability for age stereotyping is extremely high,” Mr. Neumark said. “The number of people who make jokes are way more frequent than people who make jokes. For whatever reason, the social stigma for age discrimination is really weak. ” Aside from fairness, evidence suggests that finding ways to keep older Americans working has benefits to the broader society: Working keeps older Americans happier, healthier and more mentally engaged. And forestalling retirement could relieve some of the pressure a large aging population places on this country’s social safety net. “Governments all over the world are trying to figure how to get old people to stay at work longer,” Mr. Neumark said. “If we have discriminatory barriers, then all these reforms will be less effective.“ | 1 |
علماء يعلنون عن ثورة في علم المناعة
تاريخ النشر: 26.10.2016 | 15:34 GMT | انسخ الرابط http://ar.rt.com/i5gn اكتشف فريق دولي من العلماء معلومات جديدة عن نظام المناعة الذاتية قد تحدث ثورة في عالم الطب وتؤدي إلى اتباع نهج مختلف في تطوير اللقاحات.
من المعرف أن الوظيفة الرئيسية لجهاز المناعة لدى الإنسان هي التعرف على الأجسام الغريبة التي قد تدخل الجسم كالفيروسات والبكتيريا والقضاء عليها، وتسمى هذه الأجسام الغريبة والتي تثير الاستجابة المناعية في الجسم "بالمستصدات" أو "مولدات الضد" (antigen)، حيث تقوم باستثارة واستفزاز الخلايا المناعية التي تقوم بدورها بمهاجمة تلك المستصدات.
حتى الآن جرى الاعتقاد بأن الغالبية العظمى من "منارات الإشارة" أو الأجسام التي تستثير إشارة الجهاز المناعي هي عبارة عن بنى بروتينية معينة في أجسام المستصدات. وفي نفس الوقت كان معروفا لدى العلماء أن خلايا المستصدات تنتج نوعين مختلفين من "الحواتم" (Epitopes) المختلف بعضها عن بعض من حيث التركيب .
وفي هذه الحالة يزداد احتمال الخطأ من قبل خلايا الجهاز المناعي نظرا لمصادفة هذه الخلايا المناعية ومهاجمتها سلاسل من الأحماض الأمينية لخلايا سليمة في الجسم لكونها تظن أنها تابعة لأجسام غريبة مشابهة في تركيبها لتلك الأحماض الأمينية .
وقد اعتقد في السابق أن احتمال وجود "حواتم" مشتركة أو متشابهة بتركيبها الجيني مع خلايا أخرى أمر نادر جدا. لكن بعد دراسات طويلة أجراها العلماء وبعد الاستعانة بطرق جديدة اتبعوها في دراساتهم، اكتشفوا عكس ذلك، واستطاعوا تحديد حوالي 25 % من الـ"حواتم" التي تحتوي على أصناف من البروتينات التي ترسل إشارات للجهاز المناعي، واستطاعوا بفضل تلك الطرق العثور على عدد هائل من الحواتم التي لم تكن معروفة سابقا.
وأكد العلماء أنه رغم تلك الاكتشافات "الكبيرة" التي توصلوا لها إلا أنه لا يزال أمامهم الكثير لاكتشافه، لكن ما توصلوا إليه في بحوثهم الأخيرة سيساعد كثيرا على التعمق في فهم آلية عمل الجهاز المناعي، وسيعطي فرصة لتطوير أساليب جديدة في علاج أمراض المناعة الذاتية.
المصدر: ميل رو | 0 |
As Hillary Stumbles Up Plane Steps, Cameras Catch What She Tried To Hide Robert Rich
Hillary Clinton has been a busy woman, trying to keep up her appearances and make Americans believe she is in prime condition and fit for the presidency. However, she recently stumbled as she going up some steps. Too bad for her, cameras were there to catch what she tried to hide the entire way up.
Hillary was set to fly to a rally in Winston-Salem, North Carolina on her private jet, but not before making a fool of herself on the steps. Those on the right have been saying for months now that there’s something not right regarding Hillary’s health – and a recent video may just prove that.
Although the clip starts out simple enough, Hillary only makes it about halfway up the stairs before she stumbles a bit. From there on out, the female presidential hopeful tried to hide her seemingly unsteady trek up the rest of the stairs.
Viewers watch as Hillary slows her pace and grips even tighter on that railing on her way up. She can also be seen looking down to ensure that every step lands with a firm foot as she makes her climb – something that people without a fear of frequent falls wouldn’t do.
Perhaps what’s even stranger is the fact that just after she started stumbling, it appears as though Hillary is muttering something to herself for much of the short journey to the plane. Although it’s just speculation, it looks as though Hillary was flustered by the trip. However, people seem most concerned with her labored ascent up those steps.
In fact, The Daily Mirror adds:
From the time she departed her motorcade van, which was positioned right at the bottom of the stairs, all the way to the top of the steps, she appeared to be wobbly and unsteady, and laboring during the trek.
Maybe it was because she had the extra — arduous — task of carrying an umbrella?
It doesn’t take much to see just how weak and frail Hillary Clinton is, and videos like this only make it that much clearer. This woman doesn’t so much resemble a presidential candidate as she does someone’s ailing grandma. It’s time for Hillary to face the music and throw in the towel. If she can’t physically handle a one-year campaign, she’s certainly not suited for what a 4-year presidential term is going to throw at her. | 0 |
Good morning. Here’s what you need to know: • A federal appeals panel voiced skepticism at the U. S. Justice Department’s broad defense of President Trump’s targeted travel ban. While the case seems destined for the Supreme Court, the appeals court may decide to lift a stay that has offered days of reprieve for refugees and travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries. _____ • Spearheading the battle over the travel ban are the top legal officials in more than a dozen states — all Democratic attorneys general. And the fight unexpectedly drew in a voice from China’s judiciary, which in some quarters aspires to the kind of independence Mr. Trump has at times appeared to undercut. “Even if you control the armed forces and have nuclear weapons,” Judge He Fan of the Supreme People’s Court wrote in a blog post, “your dignity has been swept away and you are no different than a villain. ” Above, Mr. Trump meeting with county sheriffs at the White House. _____ • In Washington, the Senate confirmed Mr. Trump’s choice for education secretary, approving the embattled billionaire Betsy DeVos after a historic tiebreaking vote from Vice President Mike Pence. Today’s episode of our new podcast, The Daily, looks at why she was so controversial and also gauges the level of confusion inside an evolving White House. Listen here if you’re on a computer, here if you have an iOS device or here for an Android device. _____ • The Syrian government has systematically executed 5, 000 to 13, 000 people in mass hangings at just one military prison since the start of the uprising against President Bashar Amnesty International contends. The accounts of torture, deprivation, sham trials and executions that the rights group gathered corroborate numerous accounts given to The Times by current and former detainees in several prisons across the country. _____ • A long crack in Antarctica’s ice shelf grew 17 miles in two months, according to a research team. In 20 more miles, the crack will reach all the way across the ice shelf in a full break that will create one of the largest icebergs ever recorded — and, even more troubling, imperil the buttressing that keeps glaciers from flowing into the ocean. _____ • In Hong Kong, a group of urban explorers uses stealth and drones as they peel back layers of history to forge video archives of the city’s buildings before they are razed. One admirer, an architecture professor, said the work was “about forcing us to confront the aesthetic of loss. ” • Offshore wind farms, buoyed by improved technology and protected from complaints by distance, have moved from a fringe investment into the mainstream. • A Syrian refugee who took a selfie with Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany is suing Facebook after the image after showed up in fake news reports linking him to terrorism. • China’s foreign exchange reserves dropped below $3 trillion for the first time since 2011. • The pharmaceutical giants GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi report earnings, as does Japan’s Softbank, which owns Sprint. • Wall Street was higher. Here’s a snapshot of global markets. • In Afghanistan, more than a dozen people were killed and many others injured in a suicide bombing near the country’s Supreme Court in Kabul. [The New York Times] • President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines berated more than 200 police officers on national television, calling them “rotten to the core” and ordering them to resign or be shipped off to a terrorist hotbed known for beheadings and police attacks. [The New York Times] • South Korea indicted a former culture minister and a former presidential aide for their roles in drafting a blacklist of dissenting artists. [Reuters] • China’s participation in a Vatican conference on organ trafficking is being criticized. Some doubt that the Chinese government is abiding by its announcement two years ago that it had stopped harvesting organs from executed prisoners. [The New York Times] • Steve Bannon, the chief adviser to President Trump, has cultivated alliances with traditionalists in the Vatican who share his low opinion of Pope Francis. [The New York Times] • Cambodia’s prime minister banned the flag of Taiwan in support of Beijing’s “One China” policy while simultaneously inviting Taiwanese investment. [The Cambodia Daily] • Airline employees are being trained to spot, and report, cases of human trafficking by a nonprofit organization founded by a flight attendant. [The New York Times] • Members of the Irula people of India, renowned for skills, are helping to stop the spread of Burmese pythons in the Florida Everglades. [BBC] • Slow down for just a moment with your morning coffee or tea and try to be a little more mindful. • After an unplanned pregnancy, this struggled to be the mother she wanted to be. After going back to school, she’s well on her way. • Recipe of the day: For a meatless midweek dinner, try risotto with smoked mozzarella. • A frog’s saliva, normally 50, 000 times stickier than human saliva, loosens as it speeds toward an insect and then firms back up after it hits — a behavior that explains the frog’s hunting success. • “Dog freaks out on pot” may sound like a stoner comedy or a viral video, but New York veterinarians are treating more and more canines sickened by ingesting marijuana. Gambia’s former President Yahya Jammeh once pledged that he would reign for a billion years. But last month he fled into exile, 22 years after taking power in a coup. His democratically elected successor has since accused Mr. Jammeh, above, of plundering the treasury and fleeing with millions of dollars. A source of income for Mr. Jammeh, though, had been a scheme. For years, his government sold residence permits — sometimes costing up to $15, 000 apiece — to thousands of Chinese millionaires. Why? A special program meant to encourage investment in Hong Kong allowed wealthy Chinese citizens to gain the right to live there if they had permanent residence in another country. As of 2013, some 9, 000 Chinese obtained residence permits for Gambia. The maneuvering went on until 2015, when Hong Kong suspended the program. A review found that many of the people enrolled didn’t eventually settle in Hong Kong. Instead, they used their Hong Kong passports for easier travel to other countries (but probably not Gambia). Patrick Boehler contributed reporting. _____ Your Morning Briefing is published weekday mornings. What would you like to see here? Contact us at asiabriefing@nytimes. com. | 1 |
Rep. Phil Roe ( ) talked about his vote in favor of the American Health Care Act (AHCA) with SiriusXM host Raheem Kassam on Friday’s Breitbart News Daily. [Kassam observed that the Breitbart News Daily audience appeared to be leaning “about 60 percent against” the AHCA because they do not see it as a full repeal of Obamacare or a bold enough step toward getting government out of the health insurance industry. “A yes vote was an obvious vote for me because the ACA is failing,” said Roe, referring to Obamacare by its legislative name, the Affordable Care Act. “A third of my district this coming year — maybe more — have no options whatsoever. We’re going to be an Obamacare desert in Tennessee within a year. There’s not going to be anywhere to buy insurance on the ACA. So it’s failed, just like it has in Iowa, just like it is in many places across the country. ” “The premiums have skyrocketed. The have gone up. I’ll give you an example locally, the hospital where I practiced for over 30 years,” Rep. Roe, who is a retired medical doctor who also served in the U. S. Army Medical Corps, said. “It’s a large system, a system: 9, 000 employees 60 to 70 percent of the uncollectable debt are people with insurance — not without insurance, with insurance. Their and are skyrocketed, and they can’t pay the bills. ” “It wasn’t a matter of not doing anything,” said Roe. “The Republican Study Committee asked me two terms ago to write an alternative to the Affordable Care Act, which I did, and I did it again in the last Congress. We put our ideas out there. ” He said the implementation of those ideas was limited by congressional rules and the large number of votes required to pass a bill. “I agree with people: if I’d have had my way and a magic wand, this bill would have looked differently,” he conceded. “There would have been more free market principles in it. But we got as far as we could get and get the votes. ” “And by the way, that vote would have been stronger — we were five representatives short on our side yesterday,” he added. “We had five people, one out for personal reasons, and then four out in the Trump administration. People have forgotten that in the 2010 vote, the Democrats had 257, not 237, and they passed it by five votes, I believe. So it was a similar vote. Big things like this are hard to do. I understand people’s frustration that it didn’t go far enough. Believe me, this was a giant step, in my opinion — positive, not negative. ” Kassam asked about the AHCA’s potential to defund Planned Parenthood and whether such a provision has a chance of surviving in the Senate. “We’ll have to see what the Senate does,” replied Roe. “My hat’s off to them. This is hard work. Look, we spent hours and hours and hours getting to where we were, getting to 216 votes with hiccups and starts. ” “I am a obstetrician,” he declared. “I’ve delivered almost 5, 000 babies in my career before I retired and ran for Congress. Money from the federal government ought to go into health care. What we decided, we have 141 federally qualified health centers that provide health care in the state of Tennessee and three Planned Parenthood clinics. So we want to put that money where health care is going on, not abortions. ” “This was a step. We’ll see what the Senate does. I think most of us are very happy about that, Raheem,” he said. Roe noted that Planned Parenthood provides services other than abortion. “They do sexually transmitted disease screening. They do breast exams, pap smears,” he said. However, he added, “I don’t think any of their clinics actually do mammograms. I think they refer those out. ” “I know this was a big part for some people but a relatively small part of that whole package,” he said of the Planned Parenthood funding issue. “In the state of Tennessee — I got this off of the Planned Parenthood website it’s not a number I’m making up — they did 918 breast exams in 2016 in the three clinics in the state of Tennessee. I saw myself, just one doctor, between three and four thousand patients a year, every year. ” Roe disagreed with the criticism that the AHCA merely does some “tweaking” of Obamacare, as Kassam put it, rather than substantially repealing the ACA. “Remember, this is only the first part of this, Raheem,” Roe reiterated. “This is all we could get in reconciliation, meaning it just takes 51 votes in the Senate. Again, I go back to the Senate rules. We were hamstrung because of what we could do. We passed already across state lines and association health plans. That’s already been passed over to the Senate. Now, the Senate will filibuster that. ” “I’m not saying there are not ways you can get around it and do it. Remember, we have a Secretary of HHS, Tom Price, who can also do a lot of things just executively with the stroke of a pen,” he added. “What we’re trying to do — and I did a terrible job of this when we first debated the healthcare bill — this part of the market we’re talking about, this individual and market, is seven percent of the entire insurance market,” said Roe, adding that “160 million of us get our insurance through our employer. There are already ERISA protections in there for conditions. There is no exclusion if you have Medicaid, which 74 million people do. ” “And by the way, this is the first major reform of Medicaid in decades, maybe since it was established,” he continued. “About 57 million people get insurance through Medicare, where there is no condition exclusion. What we tried to do was create a market in that seven percent to reconstruct the small market. It’s been destroyed by Obamacare. I mean, we have well over a third of the counties in this country, of the 3, 000 or so counties in America, that only have one choice, and that’s going up every day. That market has been destroyed. This will help recreate it. ” Roe said there were other free features of the Obamacare replacement bill worth praising, such as the expansion of health savings accounts. “This is just the beginning,” he promised. “Look, if I could have taken the bill I had written and passed it with 216 votes, as written, it would look different. We want to recreate a situation where doctors and patients are making choices, not bureaucrats. ” “If we fail at this, if we fail with making it where it’s cheaper, where more people can buy insurance, and the quality goes up, then we will have failed. I admit that fully. I think we can hit those targets, and I believe you can do that,” he said. “This is my third iteration of healthcare reform. I was involved in the Tenncare reform in the nineties in Tennessee, which was a failure,” Roe recalled. “I wrote an editorial in 2010, Raheem, about what I thought would happen to the ACA because of what I had seen almost 20 years before, and it exactly came true. ” Roe argued that Obamacare has failed, according to its own standards and goals. “It’s intention was to increase access and decrease costs. Well, the costs have just gone through the roof. If we don’t do something with the cost of health care in this country, nobody is going to be able to afford it,” he warned. Breitbart News Daily airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 weekdays from 6:00 a. m. to 9:00 a. m. Eastern. | 1 |
SHOCK VIDEO : Hillary Needs Help Climbing ONE SINGLE STEP in Florida SHOCK VIDEO : Hillary Needs Help Climbing ONE SINGLE STEP in Florida Videos By TruthFeedNews October 27, 2016
Hillary Clinton needed a helping hand to trek up a single step during a visit in Florida today.
Clinton was outside to greet supporters in Lake Worth when she attempted to stand on a small riser. With help from her Secret Service agents, she finally conquered the single step.
Watch the video:
Support the Trump Movement and help us fight Liberal Media Bias. Please LIKE and SHARE this story on Facebook or Twitter. | 0 |
0 Add Comment
AN POST’s stamp lickers union have called for a ballot on industrial action to take place as more and more public sector pay workers fight for better pay and working conditions.
Chronically dry tongues are just one of many long term effects that An Post’s stamp lickers can suffer from as they lick close to 2,000,000 stamps a year.
An archaic hangover from British rule, An Post has always kept a division of saliva rich workers in their GPO HQ despite advancements in postage stamp adhesive technology.
“Some of our older customers just prefer things the old way, when you’d come up O’Connell St and the stamp lickers would be there in their kiosks with their tongues hanging out waiting for a customer to swipe a stamp across them,” explained head of An Post’s Stamp Lickers Division Tim Kinitty.
Stamp lickers are demanding longer breaks and pay restoration as well as an acknowledgement from the government that the demands of the job have changed significantly. The government has previously rejected a proposal whereby staff is paid double for licking an envelope/
“The stamps never used to be this feckin’ big when I first started,” explained the longest serving stamp licker in Ireland, 81-year-old Edith Drury, “me tongue is battered from all those fancy commemorative stamps the hoors in government or councils or wherever are always commissioning. I deserve more pay surely”.
According to latest estimates, the only profession left that hasn’t explored the possibility of strike action are auld lads who whistle as they walk to the shops to grab a few messages. | 0 |
. Being Crazy in a Sick Society is Actually Healthy To be normal is to be sick... Krishnamurti once said that “it is no measure of health to be well ad... http://humansarefree.com/2016/11/being-crazy-in-sick-society-is-actually.html To be normal is to be sick... Krishnamurti once said that “it is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.”However, being born and brought up in such a society, most people can’t realize that it is sick, let alone that they are part of this sickness, just like fish, which, living in water, cannot realize that they are in water and part of the sea life. What does it mean to live a normal life? In the modern world, especially in the West, it means to be brainwashed at a very young age for over a decade by what we call schooling, to later on work as a wage slave for almost the rest of your life competing with others so as to merely survive. To mindlessly consume products without end because manipulative advertising convinced you to do so, while at the same time you unconsciously harm the planet we inhabit. To slowly poison your physical organism by feeding it with disease causing foods, to obey to the rules and believe in the dogmas handed down to you by those in authority, to be passive and uncreative, suppressing yourself in countless of ways, living in suffering, yet doing nothing to overcome it. These 13 Families Rule the World: The Shadow Forces Behind the NWO — And How to Escape Their Control If you stop for a moment and think , you might realize that this kind of living is absolutely sick, yet it is accepted by almost everyone as healthy and is actually rewarded by society. In fact, those of us who are better at living this way are considered to be the most successful and respected, while those who are different, more sensitive and intelligent, desiring to create a different path in life, are ridiculed and looked down upon, being considered as stupid, weird, or even crazy.But what is the point of living the way most people live? Life can be lived so much better — we can live playfully , filled with laughter and love, with a desire to be creative, at peace with ourselves and others, savoring the gifts of existence. Unfortunately, only a few people manage to think outside the mental box that society has provided us with and escape from the matrix they’ve been unconsciously living in since they were born. Those are the rebellious ones who at some point in their lives felt the need to break free from the chains of tradition and help create a more beautiful world for all beings on earth. Rebelling against normalcy To rebel against normalcy is the most difficult thing you can do because you need the guts to be honest with yourself and others. To voice the truth in a world where almost everyone is living in lies is quite a risky thing to do. Speaking the truth means going against the current of tradition, which in turn means confronting the herd mentality and having the strength to keep on going your way regardless of the hardships you might face.There have been many people who had the courage to rebel against the normalcy of our sick society, but most of them couldn’t deal with the negative consequences their actions had on themselves. When nobody embraces your uniqueness and is able to understand you, and when everybody is trying to suppress you and help you to fit back into society, it is easy to lose courage, and not uncommon to experience immense psychological anguish. That’s why some of the greatest minds to have ever walked on earth were suffering from serious mental and emotional issues. And although now, after a long time since they passed away, they are recognized as geniuses, when they were alive they were seen by the majority as weirdos or lunatics.Once you realize how sick the way you and most people are living is and openly go against it, trying to reclaim your freedom and create your own path in life, you are bound to get in trouble. People, including family members and friends will do everything to put obstacles on your path with the intention to “help” you become normal again, exactly like they are. Instead of helping you to grow your wings of consciousness and leave behind what is burdening your psyche, they do their best to cut them off and make you crawl by their side so that you can suffer together. Dare to be crazy Your inner voice has for a very long time been telling you that life could be lived much more beautifully, and you should trust it because it’s right. And although it might be the most difficult thing to achieve, it is the only thing worth working for, because what is the point of living otherwise? What is the point of wasting your entire life just because others told you that’s how you are supposed to live?If you desire to live the way you want to live and not the way others expect you to live, you need to gather the courage in your heart to be a little crazy — crazy according to society’s standards. You need to distance yourself from the comfort of the herd and follow your calling, without caring what others think of you . You need to be willing to go through hardships and experience pain, without giving up trying to turn your dreams into reality.Remember: no matter how much pain you might experience by walking the path of non-conformity , the rewards of doing so far outweigh the disadvantages. Just like a mother experiences tremendous pain while giving birth, you are experiencing immense pain birthing a new kind of life. A life of beauty, of joy, of celebration. Pain goes hand in hand with change , so embrace it, allow it to guide you and let it be a catalyst for your inner metamorphosis. By Sofo Archon | 0 |
Republicans have found healthcare reform to be a difficult task — and have put replacing Obamacare on the back burner — but the President and the Congress must demonstrate to the American people that they can turn campaign promises into legislation. What gives me confidence they will meet this challenge is the desire of American voters to overturn many of President Barack Obama’s failed policies and resilient Republican leadership at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue. [Maybe the best chance Republicans have to enact meaningful legislation is to focus on issues that unite the Party. Since the Reagan Revolution, one area that has consistently united Republicans is a commitment to liberate the American people from the burden of hefty taxation and a desire to allow free markets — not tax policy — to drive the American economy. While much of the focus on tax reform has been on the corporate side, another problematic area has that has gotten far less attention is the use of tax incentives to support the “green” energy business. In my opinion, there are no worse examples of tax policy then these incentives because they adulterate the free market and often direct massive profits to the wealthy and politically connected. One tax policy that is ripe for fixing is the Solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC). The ITC currently allows homeowners and businesses to deduct a portion of the cost of installation of solar panels until 2021. In 2015, Congress approved this tax cut in a deal with the Obama White House. What bothers me is that the implementation of the ITC means that Americans who do not choose to put solar panels on their rooftops have to subsidize those that do. Also, it turns out that taxpayers are also subsidizing some of the wealthiest people on the planet. Consider Elon Musk, the owner of SolarCity — which recently merged into his other company, Tesla — is the largest provider of residential solar panels in the nation. Musk is the 87th richest man in the world and someone worth admiring for his financial successes that have created thousands of jobs. However, I am not supportive of tax policies like the ITC that put more money in the pockets of billionaires. Another government incentive that Elon Musk benefits from is the Zero Emissions Vehicle (ZEV) tax credit. This policy allows people who purchase in vehicles to deduct $7, 500 from their federal taxes. This credit phases out after any manufacturer sells 20, 000 qualified vehicles. The only automaker even coming close to this 20, 000 threshold is Tesla and Elon Musk. Now, Musk has publicly said he does not support the ZEV, stating on a recent earnings call: “the reality actually is that, if electric vehicle incentives went away tomorrow, Tesla’s competitive position would improve. ” If Musk can’t have the tax credit much longer, he doesn’t want his competitors to have it either. So Musk uses the tax credit to get a leg up and then wants to eliminate it to punish his competitors when he can’t get it anymore? Oddly enough, the only profitable quarter Tesla has seen in a long time was selling $139 million in pollution tax credits to other automakers. To me, the lesson of Elon Musk — who, according to a report by the Los Angeles Times in May of 2015, has been the beneficiary of almost $5 billion dollars in government subsidies — is that these green tax credits allow businesses to subvert the to their own advantage. I don’t blame Musk, nor is this piece meant to be a critique of him. The business world is a tough place, and competitors need to seek out any advantage they can get. I just don’t think the American tax code should be a tool used by corporate titans to gain leverage or advantage over each other. Success should be determined by the quality and price of their products and services in the free market. More importantly, if Congress eliminates these “green” energy tax credits, we pay down the debt and put badly needed funds into education, infrastructure, and other important priorities that help to improve the lives of regular people and allow them to pursue the American dream. Elon Musk has said multiple times in recent months that he doesn’t want government subsidies. The Trump Administration and the Congress should give him his wish in the upcoming tax reform debate. Steele served as Lieutenant Governor of Maryland from 2003 — 2007, and as the Chairman of the Republican National Committee from 2009 — 2011 | 1 |
YouTube censoring videos – on censorship! share in: Education , Google , Journalism YouTube has yet again censored another educational video from Prager University. The content of the banned video? Criticism of censorship; hopefully the irony of their choice to remove it isn’t lost on YouTube’s executives. The video, titled The Dark Art of Political Intimidation, was released last week and features Kimberly Strassel. Strassel is a Wall Street Journal columnist who explains tactics commonly used by the leftists to shut down free speech from the right. This included blackmail, harassment and intimidation. Back in 2010, the IRS started to target conservative non-profit organizations intentionally. Groups were experiencing heavy delays when trying to aquire tax exempt non-profit status. This was an attempt to curb their political involvement in the 2012 election, explained Strassel. A Democratic prosecutor in Wisconsin launched a shadow campaign of financial investigation against conservatives. Their houses were raided before sunrise, with accompanying gag orders to keep them quiet about the raids. The reason for all that was revenge for supporting the Republican Governor Scott Walker. Kimberly Strassel highlights even more examples in the five-minute video showing censorship of political opponents. Youtube placed the video into restricted mode — which is a common filter used by schools, libraries and parents to shield their children from outrageously obscene and graphic content. NewsBusters reports: “Conservative radio host Dennis Prager’s idea for PragerU is to give students alternative, non-progressive takes on history, civics and other issues. there’s no cursing, no violence or any kind of indecency in any of them.” Prager University’s videos including those that have been censored are all G rated. This leaves questions about why the popular video platform is placing restrictions on them. At least 21 additional videos produced by the conservative not for profit educational organization that is Prager University have been placed into restricted mode by Youtube. There is a petition circulating to stop the censorship, which has aquired over 76,000 signatures so far. Hopefully, YouTube will get its act together about restricting videos that pose no threat to children. Better yet, they should make some key changes to their algorithms to prevent this from happening in the future. A Youtube statement given to Wall Street Journal stated, “[V]ideo restrictions are decided by an ‘algorithm’ that factors in ‘community flagging’ and ‘sensitive content.’” Basically progressives tripped the algorithm in an attempt to limit free speech and political involvement from conservatives. YouTube has lifted the restriction on The Dark Art of Political Intimidation this past weekend, thanks to the Wall Street Journal giving them a very hard time over the censorship. Sources: | 0 |
Source: Seemorerocks
November 1, 2016
John Key channels NZ taxpeyers' money to Clinton Foundation
This is information that every taxpayer (or those that care) should know about but our journalists are not doing their job.
What with warships in our harbour and troops in Iraq this government of John Key is in lockstep with the most corrupt and warmongering part of the US government.
No doubt Key would approve of the Clinton's defrauding the people of Haiti. It's his style.
The Cannabis Party is calling on John Key to explain why he gave over $7 million of New Zealand tax-payer's money to the Clinton Foundation.
Legalise Cannibis Party
31 October, 2016
Wikileaks raised serious ethical concerns about the Clinton Foundation when it published a hacked email, send to Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, revealing blurred lines between the foundation and the personal financial interests of Bill and Hillary Clinton.
Cannabis Party leader Julian Crawford said if John Key was serious about HIV prevention, one of the Clinton Foundation's supposed goals, he should legalise medical cannabis in New Zealand.
"Hundreds of researchers have reported that THC was able to destroy the RIV virus in monkeys. That virus is nearly identical to the HIV virus found in humans," he said.
"John Key has a lot of explaining to do if the Wikileaks revelations about the Clinton Foundation are true."
Former Assistant Director of the FBI Thomas Fuentes confirmed that "the FBI has an intensive investigation ongoing into the Clinton Foundation".
New Zealand's National Business Review has reported that John Key will continue giving millions of dollars of taxpayer's money to the foundation in the future, despite the criminal investigation of Hillary Clinton.
"I've met her on lots of occasions, had dinner with her at Premier House a few times," John Key said.
"As Secretary of State she was great, very engaged with New Zealand." Broadcaster Duncan Garner yesterday raised serious concerns about the ongoing payments to the Clinton Foundation, known as "pay-to-play".
"We also give money to the Clinton Foundation? Yes, we did. Gosh, who didn't get a handout?" Garner said.
"We've been feeding all these guys at the trough for years"
"pay-to-play" refers to operations where Bill and Hillary Clinton rewarded big donors to their foundation with preferential access to the US government.
The original article was in the neo-liberal NBR, behind a paywall
NZ taxpayers will continue funding Clinton Foundation's flagship
| 0 |
What Keeps the F-35 Alive David Swanson
Imagine if a local business in your town invented a brand new tool that was intended to have an almost magical effect thousands of miles away. However, where the tool was kept and used locally became an area unsafe for children. Children who got near this tool tended to have increased blood pressure and increased stress hormones, lower reading skills, poorer memories, impaired auditory and speech perception, and impaired academic performance.
Most of us would find this situation at least a little concerning, unless the new invention was designed to murder lots of people. Then it'd be just fine.
Now, imagine if this same new tool ruined neighborhoods because people couldn't safely live near it. Imagine if the government had to compensate people but kick them out of living near the location of this tool. Again, I think, we might find that troubling if mass murder were not the mission.
Imagine also that this tool fairly frequently explodes, emitting highly toxic chemicals, particles, and fibers unsafe to breathe into the air for miles around. Normally, that'd be a problem. But if this tool is needed for killing lots of people, we'll work with its flaws, won't we?
Now, what if this new gadget was expected to cost at least $1,400,000,000,000 over 50 years? And what if that money had to be taken away from numerous other expenses more beneficial for the economy and the world? What if the $1.4 trillion was drained out of the economy causing a loss of jobs and a radical diminuition of resources for education, healthcare, housing, environmental protection, or humanitarian aid? Wouldn't that be a worry in some cases, I mean in those cases where the ability to kill tons of human beings wasn't at stake?
What if this product, even when working perfectly, was a leading destroyer of the earth's natural environment?
What if this high-tech toy wasn't even designed to do what was expected of it and wasn't even able to do what it was designed for?
Amazingly, even those shortcomings do not matter as long as the intention is massive murder and destruction. Then, all is forgiven.
The tool I'm describing is called the F-35. At RootsAction.org you can find a new petition launched by locally-minded people acting globally in places where the F-35 is intended to be based. Also at that link you'll find explanations of how the tool I've been decribing is the F-35.
The petition is directed to the United States Congress and the governments of Australia, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Turkey, the United Kingdom, Israel, Japan and South Korea from the world and from the people of Burlington, Vermont, and Fairbanks, Alaska, where the F-35 is to be based. This effort is being initiated by Vermont Stop the F35 Coalition, Save Our Skies Vermont, Western Maine Matters, Alaska Peace Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks Peace Club, North Star Chapter 146 Veterans For Peace, World Beyond War, RootsAction.org, Code Pink, and Ben Cohen.
The petition reads:
The F-35 is a weapon of offensive war, serving no defensive purpose. It is planned to cost the U.S. $1.4 trillion over 50 years. Because starvation on earth could be ended for $30 billion and the lack of clean drinking water for $11 billion per year, it is first and foremost through the wasting of resources that this airplane will kill. Military spending, contrary to popular misconception, also hurts the U.S. economy ( see here ) and other economies. The F-35 causes negative health impacts and cognitive impairment in children living near its bases. It renders housing near airports unsuitable for residential use. It has a high crash rate and horrible consequences to those living in the area of its crashes. Its emissions are a major environmental polluter.
Wars are endangering the United States and other participating nations rather than protecting them. Nonviolent tools of law, diplomacy, aid, crisis prevention, and verifiable nuclear disarmament should be substituted for continuing counterproductive wars. Therefore, we, the undersigned, call for the immediate cancellation of the F-35 program as a whole, and the immediate cancellation of plans to base any such dangerous and noisy jets near populated areas. We oppose replacing the F-35 with any other weapon or basing the F-35 in any other locations. We further demand redirection of the money for the F-35 back into taxpayers' pockets, and into environmental and human needs in the U.S., other F-35 customer nations, and around the world, including to fight climate change, pay off student debt, rebuild crumbling infrastructure, and improve education, healthcare, and housing. | 0 |
A photo of Philomena Kwao elicits a guttural “oof,” as in she’s so pretty it kind of hurts. Her eyes are serene but lively, her cheekbones and forehead elevated and her round chin narrow. Her look is distinctive, but not so much so that it distracts. In other words, Ms. Kwao has a face made for makeup — to show off its transformative power and the skill of its artists. But she and other “ ” models like her are largely ignored by the beauty industry. “Beauty brand work is nonexistent,” said Ms. Kwao, who is originally from London. “I’ve been lucky enough to do a few editorials in the U. K. but I’ve never even been on a casting for mainstream commercial work. When I try to understand it, I think people are scared to try something new. It’s like, ‘I have a formula, why change it? ’” There’s no size requirement to fit a lipstick, so why are there no curvy models in beauty? One view says the commodification of beauty is to blame. “Beauty is about imagining where you may be in the future,” said Brooke Erin Duffy, an assistant professor at Cornell University who specializes in feminist media studies and consumer culture. “Imagining yourself looking like a celebrity or model. That promise of future reward creates need. ” Dr. Duffy points out that this idealized, aspirational woman will usually look one way — patrician features, tall, typically white and thin. This fashionable ideal was born out of the classism and racism of the 1920s, she says, when American consumer culture and the modeling industry burgeoned simultaneously. While some elements of that ideal shifted over time, the body standard remains. “People often cite the 1950s as a time when curviness was in, but that’s not entirely true,” said Elizabeth Wissinger, author of “This Year’s Model” and a professor of fashion studies at the City University of New York’s Graduate Center. “Yes, curvy bodies were popular, but the people had those achievable, accessible physiques, represented by movie stars like Marilyn Monroe. Fashion was still very separate and models were thin. ” Practical and business forces are at work, too. “ models are obviously needed in fashion because there are clothing lines,” said Jennie Runk, a curvy model who gained popularity after a 2013 HM swimwear campaign. “But when you’re thinking about images where bodies aren’t involved, there’s not much discussion of size diversity yet. ” Fashion companies may garner publicity and good will when they feature curvy models. Ostensibly, beauty companies would not get that same boost, because bodies aren’t involved in their advertising imagery. “Also, people just don’t think to go to plus agencies or boards,” Ms. Runk said. On an agency site, the first faces you’ll see are those of “ ” models. If an agency does have a curve board, it’s a few clicks away, leaving casting directors unlikely to see (and subsequently book) a curve model unless they’re actually looking for one. There have been some exceptions. In the 1990s, the model and TV personality Emme Aronson became a spokesmodel for Revlon cosmetics. Queen Latifah has been the face of CoverGirl’s Queen Collection, a makeup line for dark skin tones, for more than a decade. In a partnership with the television drama “Empire,” CoverGirl featured Gabourey Sidibe, one of the show’s actresses. And four years ago, MAC did a collection with the musician Beth Ditto. “There is no formula,” said James Gager, creative director and senior vice president, of MAC Cosmetics, speaking of how the company picks its collaborators. “If a model has confidence in who she is and how she carries herself, size is irrelevant. ” Even so, he added: “People are accustomed to seeing beauty in a singular way, and it takes time to open up. I see MAC as part of this change. ” Gary Dakin, who ran Ford Model’s plus board until 2012 and then opened his own agency, JAG Models, also acknowledged this: “I know the casting directors are pushing for size diversity, and agents are pushing for it,” he said. “What’s the disconnect here?” The problem, as he sees it, is that the industry is celebrity driven. “Companies want that name, but that doesn’t necessarily sell,” he said. “That’s hurt this cause more than anything. ” Beauty contracts are modeling’s holy grail — highly visible and lucrative. So they are reserved for a small pool of top actresses, pop stars and models. Because the category is still niche in the American market, it’s harder for those models to reach household name status. But that is all beginning to change. “Instagram has given the girls a voice,” said Becca Thorpe, a former model who is now agent to Muse NYC’s curvy models. “I can push them in a new way. Companies get to know what a model is about and whether or not that persona aligns with their brand. If they’re looking for different, bold and street, they’re going to start looking at Instagram. ” The Paloma Elsesser’s unpretentious, vibe is skillfully articulated through her Instagram account, which caught the attention of the makeup artist Pat McGrath. Last fall she chose Ms. Elsesser as a face for her makeup brand Pat McGrath Labs. “There is something exquisite in the mix of eccentricity and beauty,” Ms. McGrath said. “Paloma is an outspoken voice for body positivity and diversity within the beauty and fashion industry. Beauty brands are slowly starting to embrace diversity, but there is still much progress to be made before women of all colors, sizes and gender and sexual identities are equally represented. I am able to do this is because I am doing this [line] on my own terms. ” The model and lifestyle blogger Clémentine Desseaux also jostled the industry late last year when she posted an Instagram video of herself wearing Christian Louboutin red lipstick, looking windblown and unassuming in Paris. The video went viral, and though the relationship between brand and model was unofficial, the public saw possibility. “Everyone was going crazy to see a bare face wearing red lipstick. It was unusual — kind of a clash between this posh brand and something raw and natural,” Ms. Desseaux said. Perhaps most promising is the growing mainstream appeal of curvy models. Ashley Graham, a model on the cover of this year’s Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, introduced a nail polish collection in May with Sephora’s Formula X. That month, she also Instagrammed some photos with Revlon product (though no formal relationship exists at this point). Iskra Lawrence, known for her unretouched lingerie and swimwear campaigns with the lingerie retailer Aerie, is amassing a large following. Her fierce, sometimes cheeky advocacy frequently goes viral, like a selfie posted in May and captioned: “I do this so I can eat what I want (in moderation). I haven’t dieted, calorie counted or in 6 years weighed myself. ” That candor and relatability may yet land her a beauty contract. “I’m always working to increase my platform,” Ms. Lawrence said. “I think when curvy models do that, beauty brands will start to work with us, too. I’m not afraid of showing my skin — my dream is to do an unretouched beauty campaign. We can make change happen if we make enough noise. ” | 1 |
Britain and EU After Brexit ( 31 ) 0 13 0 0 Brexit prompts the Unietd Kingdom to facilitate trade relations with non-EU states including Russia, the Russo-British Chamber of Commerce (RBCC) chairman told Sputnik.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Leaving the European Union and losing access to the single market encourages Britain to develop trade with Russia and other non-EU states, Roger Munnings, the Russo-British Chamber of Commerce (RBCC) chairman, told Sputnik on Wednesday. "There are at least two years to go before we leave the European Union, but I think the way Britain is looking at it is that it gives us a chance to be completely open to all countries in the world, including Russia. We’ll need to look for other trading partners rather than being confined to the European Union by virtue of the free trade arrangement, so we will be very keen to do trade with Russia," Munnings said on the sidelines of the RBCC RussiaTALK Investment Forum in Moscow.
He added that although there was sanctions regime in place against Moscow, at the same time the British government encourages trade with Russia. © Photo: PIxabay UK FinMin Upholds Economic Stimuli to Quell Concerns Over ‘Hard Brexit’ On June 23, the United Kingdom voted on referendum to leave the European Union . On October 2, UK Prime Minister Theresa May said that the country would trigger Article 50 of the EU Lisbon Treaty by the end of March 2017 to start the official procedures to cease its EU membership.
A number of EU leaders have already stated that the United Kingdom will lose its access to the single market unless it keeps freedom of movement rules. May, meanwhile, suggested at the Conservative party conference in early October that the country’s exit from the European Union would be a "hard" rather than "soft" Brexit, meaning that control over immigration would be prioritized over the access to the European single market. ... | 0 |
2016 presidential campaign by BAR executive editor Glen Ford
The GOP won at the polls, but Black, brown and working class Democrats have been taking a beating from their own party for decades. “The Democratic Party has failed to deliver even small net increments of social justice to its base constituencies, always giving away more than it gained, and at times taking the lead in savaging the people.” Hillary Clinton hoped to lead a Government of Ruling Class Consensus – a victory only for the One Percent. The Democratic Debacle – The Day After by BAR executive editor Glen Ford
“The net economic loss to the people -- especially the masses of Black folks, who have been stripped of much of the gains of the Sixties and Seventies, and nearly all of their household wealth – has been staggering and unrelenting.”
The White Nationalists won and Hillary Clinton’s Big Tent, the bastion of the ruling class that Blacks and browns were led to believe was their sanctuary, has ignominiously folded. The media echo chamber smothered the deep, rumbling sounds of the impending quake, allowing only the corporate consensus to be heard outside the precincts of the Deplorables. But Deplorables want good jobs, too, and a future secure from the predations of Mad Capital, if only for their own “kind.” Whites in the “Rust Belt” joined with Confederates to choose their own brand of “lesser evil” – evils being the only items on the duopoly menu.
Social democrats – a broad group that includes the vast bulk of Black America, according to political scientist Michael Dawson -- huddled around the latrine of Hillary’s Big Tent, trying desperately to perfume the stench. Except for a few percentage points worth of Green voters, they opted, once again, for a fraudulent “incrementalism” – a foolishness dressed up as “pragmatism” and even masquerading as high “strategy” -- which has led “progressives” straight down a road to disaster in the neoliberal era. (My excessive use of quotation marks is intended to convey that even the language of much leftish discourse is crafted for the purpose of surrender to Power.)
“Whites in the ‘Rust Belt’ joined with Confederates to choose their own brand of ‘lesser evil’ – evils being the only items on the duopoly menu.”
Rather than gradually strengthening the political hand of the working and oppressed classes, bit by bit, year by year -- which is the purported justification for incrementalism -- progressive slavishness to the Democratic Party has facilitated the deepening dictatorship of capital. The net economic loss to the people -- especially the masses of Black folks, who have been stripped of much of the gains of the Sixties and Seventies, and nearly all of their household wealth – has been staggering and unrelenting.
For the past 40 years and more, Democrats have been perfect partners in the Dance of the Duopolists. It’s a simple two-step. The basic move is: the Democrats hug as closely as possible to the left flank of the Republican Party, thus staying within dog-whistle range of the White Man’s Party’s core base, rooted in white supremacy, while claiming everything to the left of Robert E. Lee as Democratic turf, including the huge, heavily Black social democratic electorate whose progressive agenda the Democrats have no intention of substantively addressing.
The Clintons turned this two-step into a disciplined tango with their GOP partners. In 1994, the Republicans threatened to launch a social justice Armageddon through their Contract with America -- legislation they were incapable of fully enacting, however, without some level of Democratic consent. The Clintons vowed to defend Black, brown and poor people from the GOP barbarians at the gate – and wound up ramming through Congress corporate-crafted measures that the Republicans could not have passed on their own. Bill and Hillary cut a rug to that tune for eight years in the White House, stomping out welfare as we knew it, eviscerating Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal banking regulations, presiding over the largest surge in mass Black incarceration in modern history, and delivering the broadcast spectrum to monopoly media, all the while pretending to defend a “progressive agenda.”
“Islamic jihadists were enlisted en mass as U.S. imperialism’s hellish foreign legion in the Muslim world.”
On the foreign policy side, the Clintons pioneered Washington’s “humanitarian” military intervention doctrine, later refined by Barack Obama and his secretary of state, Hillary Clinton. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bill Clinton set in motion the worst genocide since World War Two, a holocaust that has killed at least six million people under three US. administrations, and still counting. Humanitarian intervention, or Responsibility to Protect (R2P), became Obama’s favored instrument of aggression, a more domestically palatable alternative to George Bush’s massive boots-on-the-ground fiasco in Iraq. Islamic jihadists were enlisted en mass as U.S. imperialism’s hellish foreign legion in the Muslim world. Together, “New” Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton turned Syria and Libya into maelstroms of slaughter and moved towards nuclear war with Russia.
Obama’s domestic aggressions on behalf of Big Capital were equally bold. With both houses of Congress in Democratic hands and the GOP on the ropes in 2009, he rushed to put Social Security, Medicare and “all entitlements” “on the table” for cutting. Now dancing by himself, not even bothering to triangulate in the Clinton style, Obama tried to forge a “Grand Bargain” with the GOP by pulverizing the remnants of the social safety net. Only the Republicans' institutional imperative to defeat, rather than collaborate with, -- its white supremacist DNA -- prevented consummation of the Grand Bargain, Obama’s Holy Grail.
From Jimmy Carter to Barack Obama, the Democratic Party has failed to deliver even small net increments of social justice to its base constituencies, always giving away more than it gained, and at times taking the lead in savaging the people. There is no historical basis in the neoliberal era for the claim that the Democratic Party provides net incremental benefits to Black and working people, or that the party can be seized from its corporate masters and transformed into a machine that fights for the people. It fights for Capital – tooth and nail, as Bernie Sanders’ followers discovered.
“The First Black President rushed to put Social Security, Medicare and ‘all entitlements’ ‘on the table’ for cutting.”
Hillary Clinton seized the opportunity presented by the Trump-generated split in the GOP to create a ruling class consensus and headquarters in her own campaign tent. It was the ultimate betrayal, the incubator of a thoroughly corporatized Democratic Party – an undertaker of social democracy. Instead, the White Deplorables derailed her, as they had earlier derailed the Republican corporate establishment.
Thus, the crisis of legitimacy in U.S. ruling institutions deepens.
It now appears, in the early hours of President Elect Donald Trump, that the new administration will be a conventional rightwing Republican regime, with a cast of villains including Newt “Contract with America” Gingrich, and a Vice President Mike Pence in the role of Dick “The Real President” Cheney. Maybe Trump will insist on giving peace with Russia and China a chance, maybe not. The Trans Pacific Pipeline is probably dead, unless it can somehow be resurrected in the lame duck session of Congress that begins next week, but there is no way Republicans or Democrats will slap 35 percent tariffs on U.S. corporations’ foreign-produced goods. That’s rhetorical theater a la Trump.
The Trump regime has no fix for the ills of late stage capitalism that have immiserated both the triumphant Deplorables and the darker folks they scapegoat, and whom they can be counted on to harass, repress and deport. Neither does the Democratic Party, whose next administration, had it not been still-born, would have served the interests of the One Percent even more dependably than did Obama.
Leave Hillary’s nasty tent in the dirt, where it lies. The people need vibrant social movements that will produce new leadership in struggle and shape the parties of the future. BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted | 0 |
LONDON — Oscar Pistorius, the Olympic runner, removed his artificial legs and shuffled his way to the front of a courtroom in South Africa on Wednesday, the third day of a hearing to determine his sentence for the 2013 murder of his girlfriend. Trembling and tearful, he rested his right hand on a desk for support as his lawyers pleaded with a judge to sentence him to community service rather than prison. Dressed in a and athletic shorts, Mr. Pistorius, 29, was under five feet tall without the prosthetic legs that earned him the nickname the Blade Runner. It was an image far more humble than that of the athlete who successfully challenged athletes. Mr. Pistorius’s defense lawyers had asked him to take off his prosthetic legs to highlight the sense of vulnerability they say he felt when, acting out of fear and confusion, he fatally shot his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, early on Feb. 14, 2013. But the tactic appeared to also be meant to generate sympathy from the judge and a lighter sentence than the 15 years Mr. Pistorius faces for murder. It was the most dramatic moment of the day in a proceeding that both the prosecution and the defense have sought to inject with pathos. A defense psychologist testified on Monday that the athlete was unfit to testify because of a “severe” mental condition that included symptoms of stress disorder. On Tuesday, the victim’s father, Barry Steenkamp, a diabetic, testified that his grief was so severe that he plunged his insulin syringe into his stomach and arms “to see if I could feel the same type of pain, but no. ” Mr. Pistorius has long maintained that he thought an intruder had entered the home he shared with Ms. Steenkamp in Pretoria, and that he had no intention of killing her when he fired four shots through a locked bathroom door after she had taken cover inside. It is Mr. Pistorius the and not Mr. Pistorius the athlete, who should be judged, said one of his lawyers, Barry Roux. South African sentencing guidelines call for a minimum term of 15 years in prison for murder, but they give the judge leeway. Mr. Roux argued that there were “substantial and compelling circumstances” to show leniency. Judge Thokozile Matilda Masipa, who is presiding over the televised hearing in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, said on Wednesday that she would issue her ruling on July 6, according to news reports. In 2014, after a trial that riveted South Africa, Judge Masipa found Mr. Pistorius not guilty of murder but convicted him of culpable homicide, the legal equivalent of manslaughter. She sentenced him to five years in prison, and he served one year before being released in October to serve the rest of his sentence under house arrest. However, prosecutors appealed, and the country’s top appeals court convicted Mr. Pistorius of murder in December, finding that he was guilty because he knew that firing through the locked door would kill whoever was inside — even if he did not believe that it was Ms. Steenkamp. The court referred the case back to Judge Masipa for sentencing. Marius du Toit, a South African criminal defense lawyer and former prosecutor and judge who is not connected with the case, said in a phone interview that both sides had made fairly naked appeals to emotion — the defense by having Mr. Pistorius walk around on the stumps of his legs, and the prosecution by bringing forward Ms. Steenkamp’s tearful relatives — because the legal issues had already been resolved. “All the legal facts in this matter have been settled. We have the rulings from the courts, and all of the evidence that has been adduced,” he said. “The only thing that’s changed is that we’re dealing now with murder instead of culpable homicide, and on murder, the court has to impose a mandatory sentence unless the court finds ‘substantial and compelling’ reasons for a different sentence. ” In a decision that could add to the charged emotions around the case, Judge Masipa on Wednesday agreed, at the request of prosecutors, to release photographs of Ms. Steenkamp’s body that investigators took after the shooting. The case has highlighted fear of violent crime in South Africa and raised questions about whether the criminal justice system treats all defendants equally. The chief prosecutor, Gerrie Nel, has portrayed Mr. Pistorius as a man given to fits of anger and . On Wednesday, he summoned Kim Martin, a cousin of Ms. Steenkamp’s, to testify about what the prosecution contends is a lack of remorse. “All we’ve ever wanted was the truth,” Ms. Martin said. “I know people said that you’ve got the truth. But we didn’t. Oscar’s version changed so many times, and I’ve never, ever heard him say that ‘I apologize for shooting and murdering Reeva behind that door.’ ” Ms. Steenkamp, a law school graduate and model, was 29 when she died. “Besides the obvious anxiety and depression, as a family we’ll never ever be able to carry on like normal,” Ms. Martin said. “Just standing on a queue at a shopping center poses difficulty. People don’t recognize you, and they’ll start mentioning the trial, or they’ll start mentioning Oscar, or they’ll start mentioning Reeva. ” The family has expressed outrage that Mr. Pistorius taped an interview — his first about the killing — with the British television network ITV but declined to testify at the sentencing hearing. The interview is scheduled for broadcast on June 24. The sentence had been expected to be handed down before that date. Mr. Roux suggested that his client was also a victim, with his career and life ruined. “The accused has lost all of his assets and his career is gone,” Mr. Roux said. “The accused can never, ever resume his career. The accused has punished himself, and will punish himself for the rest of his life, far more than any court of law can punish him. ” Mr. Nel, the prosecutor, was unmoved. He said that Mr. Pistorius had not shown remorse and that his decision to give the ITV interview without informing the court showed “utter disrespect. ” “It’s the duty of this court not to follow public opinion but to lead public opinion in the public interest,” he said. | 1 |
The Council on Relations, aka CAIR, has helped launch a series of protests across the country and plans lawsuits related to President Trump’s recent executive orders on immigration. [The orders are designed to keep Americans safer from terrorism by temporarily barring visitors from Iran, Iraq, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, Libya, and Sudan from entering the U. S. without “extreme vetting” and banning refugees from these countries for at least 30 days. CAIR has been declared a terrorist organization by the United Arab Emirates and was named by federal prosecutors as an unindicted in a operation. The Council on Relations is also increasingly a part of America’s institutional left infrastructure and was one of the partners behind the recent Women’s March in Washington that drew hundreds of thousands, along with feminist groups like Planned Parenthood. On Saturday, protests broke out at airports around the country, including New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. Saturday morning, two Iraqis were detained at JFK. Over 1, 000 now at Terminal 4 at #NoMuslimBanJFK to say refugees and Muslims are welcome here! pic. twitter. — Daniel Altschuler (@altochulo) January 28, 2017, CAIR chapters were actively promoting the protests on social media and acting as spokesmen for the issue. Protests at John F. Kennedy International Airport after #refugees were detained following Trump’s #MuslimBan … https: . — (@CAIRMI) January 28, 2017, # : Immigration order halts travelers at DFW airport, Alia Salem, executive director for DFW Chapter of … https: . — CAIR National (@CAIRNational) January 28, 2017, ABC News reports on the Chicago chapter of CAIR’s involvement: At least one person was detained at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago today, and it is expected that she will return to Saudi Arabia, according to the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). Sahar Alghnimi, a Syrian woman who came to the U. S. on tourist visa to see her mother who had just undergone cancer surgery, was detained when she arrived from Saudi Arabia at 8:48 AM on Eithad Airlines, CAIR Chicago executive director Ahmed Rehab told ABC News. Meanwhile in Boston, CAIR is is planning another rally for Sunday at 1 p. m. on Boston’s Copley Square. Executive Director John Robbins said Trump is playing on “religious bigotry and intolerance” and will end up turning away men, women, and children fleeing violence and persecution. Time magazine says that CAIR was behind a protest that happened earlier in the week at New York City’s Washington Square Park: The demonstration, led by the New York Chapter of the Center for Relations (CAIR) was hastily organized in response to Trump’s executive orders restricting immigration from Muslim countries and efforts to curb undocumented immigration within the U. S. On Wednesday, Trump the construction of a wall along the southern border, ordered the Department of Homeland Security to build more detention centers, and ended federal grant funding to “sanctuary cities” that refuse to cooperate with federal efforts. CAIR has announced on their website that they will hold a news conference at its Capitol Hill headquarters in Washington, D. C. to announce the filing of a federal lawsuit on behalf of more than 20 individuals challenging the “Muslim ban” executive order. CAIR’s news conference will be on its Facebook page. Follow Breitbart News investigative reporter and Citizen Journalism School founder Lee Stranahan on Twitter at @Stranahan. | 1 |
Wednesday 9 November 2016 by Neil Tollfree US to replace national anthem with the Benny Hill theme
Following a Donald Trump win in the Presidential election, the US has announced plans to abandon the Star-Spangled Banner as National Anthem in favour of the Benny Hill theme, Yakety Sax .
“The Star-Spangled Banner is a beautiful old hymn of hope and decency,” explained American historian, Simon Williams, through tears at what his country had become.
“So now, with a Trump presidency in prospect, the theme to Benny Hill seems tonally more appropriate.”
The Benny Hill Show, surprisingly popular in the US, featured Benny Hill playing a lecherous and stupid version of himself who would chase after scantily-clad women with hilarious consequences.
“I think that when President Elect Trump walks up the steps of the Capitol to take the oath of office in January, hearing the strains of the Yakety Sax will give the occasion about the appropriate level of dignity.”
Other options considered as a new National Anthem include the theme for the Simpsons, Sir Mix-a-lot’s Baby Got Back and, what is understood to be Mr Trump’s choice, Tomorrow Belongs To Me .
The Benny Hill theme seemed to find favour with many Americans.
“Yeah, I sure like that,” said Eleanor Gay from Pennsylvania.
“But then, I voted Trump. So I ain’t that great at choosing things.” Get the best NewsThump stories in your mailbox every Friday, for FREE! There are currently | 0 |
Короткая ссылка 27 октября 2016, 02:47 Делегация Канады не прибудет на запланированный 27 октября саммит, где должно было состояться подписание соглашения о свободной торговле (CETA) с Европейским союзом.
«Канадская делегация не поедет сегодня в Европу. Канада по-прежнему готова подписать это важное соглашение, когда Европа будет готова», — приводит ТАСС заявление официального представителя Министерства международной торговли Канады Алекса Лоуренса.Ранее стало известно, что переговоры между властями Бельгии и представителями регионов и сообществ страны, заблокировавшими подписание CETA, окончились безрезультатно и итоговый документ так и не был выработан.
Ранее были фактически приостановлены переговоры о заключении соглашения о свободной торговле ЕС и США (ТТИП). 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 |
Three militia members plotted to detonate a bomb at a housing complex in western Kansas where Somali immigrants lived and worshiped, federal investigators said Friday. The men, who were arrested Friday morning on domestic terrorism charges, scouted out the apartments in Garden City, Kan. stockpiled guns and composed a manifesto about their motives, prosecutors said. “Their rhetoric and their speech have revealed a hatred for Muslims, Somalis and immigrants,” an F. B. I. agent wrote in affidavit related to the case. The plotters planned to carry out their attack on Nov. 9, the day after the presidential election, the authorities said. The three men are Curtis Allen and Gavin Wright, both 49 and from Liberal, Kan. about 65 miles from Garden City, and Patrick Stein, 47, of Wright, Kan. According to the F. B. I. agent’s affidavit, the men referred to Muslims as “cockroaches” and met frequently to discuss the plot. Officials said that the apartment complex they targeted housed about 120 people, including many Somalis who work at a nearby meatpacking plant, and that one of the units was used as a mosque. Eric Jackson, the special agent in charge of the F. B. I’s Kansas City office, said that agents infiltrated the militia months ago, and that the men planned to wait until the presidential campaign was over before carrying out the plot. He did not specify which candidate the militia members were supporting. Prosecutors said Mr. Stein became worried this week that the plan could be foiled after Mr. Allen was arrested on domestic violence charges. “These individuals had desire, the means and the capability, and were committed to carrying out this act of domestic terrorism,” Mr. Jackson said. The Council on Relations called Friday for state and federal law enforcement agencies to increase protection of mosques across the country. The council’s Kansas board chairman, Moussa Elbayoumy, said Garden City counted several hundred Muslims among its roughly 27, 000 residents. Mr. Elbayoumy said there was one mosque in the city, which served a mixture of American Muslims and recent immigrants. “I am personally not aware of any tensions between the Muslim community and the surrounding community,” said Mr. Elbayoumy, who lives in another part of Kansas. “Most of them are getting along very well, and there have been contacts with interfaith groups. ” Investigators said the plotters were part of a group called the Crusaders that had militia and sovereign citizen ties. The authorities learned of the attack from a paid informant, the affidavit said. In the affidavit, the F. B. I. agent wrote, “They chose the target location based on their hatred of these groups, their perception that the people represent a threat to American society, a desire to inspire other militia groups, and a desire to ‘wake people up.’ ” Mayor Chris Law of Garden City said in a statement that he was “shocked, but at the same time extremely proud of and grateful for the efforts of local, state, and federal law enforcement. ” The Garden City police chief, Michael Utz, said his department had been aware of the investigation and was assured that all suspects were in custody. Mr. Jackson, the F. B. I. official, said he was confident the plot was fully foiled. It would have had a significant impact not only on the state of Kansas, this community, but also this nation,” Mr. Jackson said. “This would have been picked up not only nationally, but internationally. ” | 1 |
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A Pakistan International Airlines plane with 48 people on board, including a famous former pop singer, crashed near Abbottabad in northern Pakistan on Wednesday, government officials and the airline said. The flight, PK 661, was traveling to Islamabad, the capital, from Chitral, a northern tourist destination near the border, when it crashed, said Saeed Wazir, the deputy inspector general of police in Abbottabad district. At least 40 bodies were taken from the crash site on Wednesday night and brought to a hospital in Abbottabad. Recovery efforts continued, aided by hundreds of soldiers, but officials held out little hope that anyone would be found alive. “What locals from the crash scene are telling us, the passengers are all burned,” Mr. Wazir said. “Smoke and fire are billowing from the debris. No one can go near it. People are helpless. ” Pakistan International Airlines, the national carrier, released a statement saying that 42 passengers, five crew members and one ground engineer were on the aircraft, an twin turboprop plane. The statement said the plane went down near the city of Havelian, in Abbottabad district. In a telephone interview, the director general of the Civil Aviation Authority, Asim Suleiman, said that in the minutes before the crash, the plane’s pilot radioed to air traffic controllers that the left engine had flamed out. “Two minutes later, he lost contact,” Mr. Suleiman said. Rescue workers and people from nearby villages had to walk for an hour to reach the crash site. Local television news networks broadcast images of the smoldering debris of the aircraft, sprawled over a large hilly area, as dozens of people ran toward the wreckage. The passengers included Junaid Jamshed, a popular recording artist who later turned to Islamic proselytizing. Mr. Jamshed was a heartthrob in his youth, performing lead vocals in the band Vital Signs, known for its brooding, romantic, catchy ballads. The band’s first pop music album, released in 1989, took the country by storm: The song “Dil Dil Pakistan” has become a sort of unofficial national anthem. After the band broke up in the Mr. Jamshed turned to Islamic preaching and became a televangelist. Although he had stopped singing, he began reciting na’at, a type of poetry that praises the Prophet Muhammad, and started a successful retail clothing business. One of Mr. Jamshed’s two wives was with him on the flight, according to Pakistani news reports. Mr. Jamshed’s family members said he had gone to Chitral a week ago on a proseletyzing mission and had extended his stay by two days. A senior government official in Peshawar said three foreigners — one Australian, one Chinese and one Korean — were among the passengers. The crash is again focusing attention on Pakistan’s troubled air travel industry. For years, Pakistan International Airlines has been buffeted by controversies over mismanagement, corruption and safety. The two most recent major air crashes, however, involved private or local airlines. In 2012, a flight by Bhoja Air, a private carrier, crashed outside Islamabad, killing 127 people. | 1 |
Law enforcement immigration officers and agents joined forces to round up 39 members of the criminal gang. Six other people were also arrested during the operation. [U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents teamed up in Operation Matador to arrest a total of 45 criminal gang members. In addition to the 39 members, the operation led to the arrest of two Sureños, one member of the 18th Street Gang, one Latin King, one Los Niños Malos, and one with Patria, according to information obtained by Breitbart Texas from ICE officials. Operation Matador was conducted over a period of time. “Transnational gangs like bring nothing but violence and conflict to our communities and their presence will not be tolerated. Their vicious criminal activities present an ongoing challenge for law enforcement everywhere,” Special Agent in Charge of HIS New York Angel M. Melendez said in a written statement. “It is with the efforts of our federal partners under DHS and the incredible assistance provided by our local law enforcement partnerships with Suffolk County and Nassau County Police Departments that we will continue to dismantle these gangs piece by piece to enhance the safety and security of our communities. ” Officials stated that 20 of the gang members had criminal histories. Some of those offenses include convictions for assault and weapons charges. One of the gang members reportedly has a conviction for larceny and a final order of removal from an immigration judge. Other significant gang members arrested include: “These individuals are members of a violent street gang actively wreaking havoc in the community. This unified effort is about keeping New York citizens safe,” New York ERO Field Office Director Thomas R. Decker said in the statement. “ERO and HSI, along with our law enforcement partners, face no limitations in the apprehension and dismantling of transnational criminal organizations. We will not rest until our communities are safer and individuals like these are brought to justice. ” More than 30 of the arrests came in Suffolk County, which routinely releases criminal aliens from its jail, even if ICE has placed an immigration hold on the suspect. In April, Breitbart News reported on the massacre of four Hispanic young men from Long Island, New York. The bodies of the men were so mutilated, they could only be identified by tattoos. Police eventually tied the murders to . Breitbart Texas has been covering this violent transnational gang for several years. In July 2013, we reported on four gang members that were convicted on counts of murder, armed robberies, and firearms offenses. That trial lasted for four weeks. At that time, FBI officials indicated members of the gang were active in at least 42 states and had between 6, 000 and 10, 000 members. Those numbers have increased substantially with the massive influx of Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) from Central American countries, particularly El Salvador. On June 10, Breitbart Texas reported the numbers of UACs, particularly from El Salvador, being apprehended at our southern border with Mexico is again on the rise following a downtrend. Since October 1, 2916, 8005 UACs from El Salvador have been apprehended after crossing the border illegally — 1, 493 in May alone. This is nearly a fifty percent increase from the previous month. Almost half of those apprehended this month had crossed in the Rio Grande Valley Sector in south Texas. ICE officials stated that of the 39 gang members arrested in Operation Matador, 12 had entered the U. S. as unaccompanied minors. Three other members entered the U. S. under Special Immigrant Juvenile Status. Some of those arrested had previously been deported and now face felony charges for illegal after removal, officials stated. The rise of violence has also dramatically impacted crime in the nation’s city, Houston, where Governor Greg Abbott announced in April, the creation of a Texas Task Force to target these criminal aliens. Breitbart Texas covered the press conference on April 11 of this year in Houston Gov. Abbott announced the expansion of the Texas Task Force (TAG) and the creation of a technical operations center. Houston is one of the five cities that the FBI has identified to have a large presence. ICE officials worked with state and county law enforcement officers in conducting the operation. Operation Matador was carried out under the auspices of the Department of Homeland Security’s Transnational Organized Crime Initiative. Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook. | 1 |
Millennials ‘Search for Truth’ on Election but Distrust Media, Intelligence Firm Reports Posted on Oct 28, 2016 A crowd of millennial voters at a South Bronx rally for Sen. Bernie Sanders in March. ( Michael Vadone / CC 2.0 )
Don’t believe the hype about millennial voters. This bloc of the Unites States population, ages 18 to 35 and whose numbers are estimated to be about 69.2 million, may have a reputation for not engaging with the political system —but that is not the case for this election, The Intelligence Group reports, based on a recent study.
“Leading up to the presidential election, millennials are taking advantage of their hacking mindset to create their own persuasion journey to get to the truth,” The Intelligence Group, a part of global marketing agency Deep Focus, which performs research for corporations and government organizations, states in a report that quotes numerous millennial voters.
This subset of the electorate will play an important role at the ballot box, and its members are doing their homework.
“The media is a joke,” said Joseph, 31, a moderate in the study. “I research things much more. I Google the topic, and then I sift through a bunch of media spin to try and see if it’s true or not.”
The group’s research, conducted through “a blended approach of social listening and qualitative insights generated via real-time social conversations,” found millennials fact-checking the presidential candidates’ assertions and engaging with their peers on social media sites and forums such as Reddit, Twitter and Facebook to “make an informed opinion and hold candidates accountable.”
During the first presidential debate, for example, The Intelligence Group reported that Americans posted 138,000 tweets to fact-check the candidates in real time. This eagerness to critically assess the candidates stems from a distrust of both media and the candidates themselves.
“I don’t believe there is such a thing as a truly objective source,” said Kelly, 25, a liberal. “It’s up to the individual to factor in the relative objectivity of a source when making their opinion.”
The millennial vote is an increasingly significant one. This year, data show that millennials already match the baby boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964) as the largest voting-age group in America, according to the Pew Research Center. Census Bureau data show that roughly 1 in 6 voters in the past two presidential elections were younger than 30.
The presidential campaigns have taken note of these numbers, “firing on all cylinders” to target millennials, according to Kristin Lynch, communications coordinator for the Clinton campaign in Denver. Clinton’s team referred to social media and, specifically, Facebook Live, as crucial to reaching young voters.
“[Trump] is really facing an uphill battle when people are only hearing what the media is saying,” Rachel Keane, the Trump campaign’s Colorado millennial outreach co-chairwoman, told USA Today.
In the 2012 election, President Obama won over millennials by a landslide against rival Mitt Romney, garnering 60 percent of the youth vote.
“If millennials vote en masse, they have a chance to determine the election’s outcome ,” writes Courtney Crowder of the Des Moines Register.
The next big question is whether they will be motivated enough to actually vote. | 0 |
SYDNEY, Australia — A man who stabbed and critically wounded another man in a park in a Sydney suburb on Saturday was inspired by Islamic State extremists, the police here said on Sunday. Catherine Burn, a deputy police commissioner for the state of New South Wales, said at news conference that a Sydney man, whom police did not name, had been charged with committing an act of terrorism and attempted murder. He was expected to appear in court on Sunday morning. Ms. Burn said the man was known to the police for other unrelated crimes. “We will be alleging before court this was an act that was inspired by ISIS,” she said. “It was a deliberate act yesterday. It resulted in a person receiving extremely serious injuries. ” The unidentified victim was attacked while walking through a nature reserve in Minto, about 30 miles southwest of downtown Sydney. He was listed in serious condition at an area hospital. The police said that the two men did not know each other. “We know that this person has strong, extremist beliefs inspired by ISIS,” Ms. Burn said at the news conference. “What made him act we don’t know. ” She said that counterterrorism police officers had searched the man’s home and found material that linked him to the extremist group. On Thursday, the New South Wales police arrested another man, 18, in an unrelated incident at the Sydney Opera House. He was charged with threatening to destroy or damage property, after the police arrested him outside the music venue. Last week, Malcolm Turnbull, the prime minister, warned that the Islamic State had called for terror attacks at popular tourist sites in Australia, including the Opera House and at Bondi Beach. | 1 |
Donna Hubbard, a flight attendant who lives outside Atlanta, has no problem speaking forcefully about the issue of human trafficking in the United States. But her voice begins to falter when she talks about her own life — how years of exploitation shattered her confidence and turned her life upside down. “For many years, I couldn’t talk about being an addict,” she said. “I couldn’t talk about being imprisoned. I couldn’t talk about getting on my feet, getting my life back, getting my children back. ” She paused to fight back tears. “I could not talk about that part of me where I was victimized. ” But having realized that airline employees are perfectly positioned to stop human traffickers and their victims in transit, Ms. Hubbard has found her mission: teaching other flight attendants to spot and report cases of human trafficking. The nonprofit organization she joined in 2015, Airline Ambassadors International, trains workers at airlines and airports how to spot, and report, cases of human trafficking. It also delivers humanitarian aid around the world and transports sick children who need medical care. It was founded in 1996 by Nancy Rivard, who was then a flight attendant. “We just did it on our own as a public service because we had the personnel,” Ms. Rivard said, noting that the organization began focusing on human trafficking in 2009 and has held 52 training sessions in the United States and abroad since 2011. There were 8, 042 reported cases of human trafficking in the United States last year — the most ever, according to a report released last week by the nonprofit organization Polaris. Most of those came through calls to the National Human Trafficking Hotline, which was established by the federal government in December 2007 and is operated by Polaris in a partnership. The number of reported cases has been rising every year since the hotline was established. But it is not all bad news, said Bradley Myles, Polaris’s chief executive. “We don’t necessarily want to give the impression that just because we’re learning about more cases, the crime is increasing,” Mr. Myles said. “It’s actually possible that the response is getting more sophisticated. ” Encouragingly, he added, more and more of these reports are coming directly from trafficking victims, which suggests a growing awareness among those who need it most that the hotline exists. Ms. Hubbard sees victim outreach as vital to her work, but she is hesitant to give details about her own ordeal. She entered an arranged marriage at 16, she said, but the worst abuses did not start until her early 20s, when she described being “bought and sold, traded and bartered. ” “Usually, the traffickers play on people’s ignorance and naïveté,” she said. “Traffickers exploit people who are vulnerable. ” That is part of the lesson she imparts to airline personnel, along with practical advice on how to spot people who may be traveling against their will — often young passengers who look disoriented, refuse to make eye contact or act oddly subservient to a traveling companion. American Airlines, Ms. Rivard’s former employer, offers free miles to the volunteers of Airline Ambassadors International. American’s employees already undergo training on human trafficking, led by the Department of Homeland Security, according to a company representative. Ms. Rivard said airlines’ existing programs are not enough. She cited instances in which she said airline staff failed to take signs of trafficking seriously, and added that she wished more resources were available to her organization. “It doesn’t cost much. We try to raise about $3, 000 per training” from individual donors, she said. An Airline Ambassadors International training session in late January in Houston, just before the Super Bowl there, was filled to capacity. “It was an amazing event,” Ms. Hubbard said. “I give kudos to the city of Houston and to the agencies that are doing the work on the ground. ” Though human trafficking gets more attention during major sporting events like the Super Bowl, there is little hard evidence — from Polaris or elsewhere — to suggest a major spike in trafficking during large events. “We don’t think it’s useful to somehow give the impression that there are new victims and new types of trafficking that only happen around that time,” Mr. Myles said, though he added that major events might lure criminals who were already operating in other areas. The Houston Police Department has been revamping its approach to human trafficking for years, said Capt. Dan Harris, of the department’s vice division. It now offers training on human trafficking for officers as well as assistance for survivors. “We had the processes, the procedures and the relationships already in place,” Captain Harris said. “The only thing we really did for the Super Bowl was work more hours in order to go after, mainly, the johns. ” While law enforcement agencies and charities work to address the problem on the ground, Ms. Hubbard and other flight attendants plan to keep an eye on things in the air. “If someone is being held against their will, then a crime is being committed inside my airplane,” she said. “So it is my responsibility to make sure that these people — whose lives are in my hands while they’re on board my aircraft — are safe. ” | 1 |
Fox News Channel ditched Bill O’Reilly on Wednesday following the revelation of a series of sexual harassment allegations. [His accusers — including Juliet Huddy, Andrea Tantaros, and Gretchen Carlson — also tellingly no longer work at Fox News. But the women who never worked at Fox News strike as the ultimate victims. Those who share the chromosomes of the aggrieved parties but not a CV that includes looks, or a boyfriend, or a Miss America crown don’t, generally, get hired in cable news. Strangely, the ladies that cable news regards as bringing viewers the most articulate, insightful opinions, cogent analysis, and trusted, steady delivery of information all exhibit a highest common denominator: 10. Even on The Five, viewers see no fives. God apparently blessed the women with the most desirable attributes in other categories, too. Sure, ugly people can get on the Fox News Channel — if they’re guys (If you want proof of this, turn it on right now). But it really, really helps to appear really, really good looking if you want a spot on Fox News Channel and you don’t have a penis. The ladies never allowed within the sights of any Fox News Channel camera suffered from the sexism of the business far more than the talent subjected to leers, propositions, and unwanted comments. Where’s their settlements? Sex sells, especially on cable news. Ugly women need not apply. Fat women need not apply. Old women need not apply. Hot women? You’re hired. Television, a visual medium, understandably favors those beyond the visual medium. That’s not news even on a channel with 24 hours to fill up. But stacking the lineup with a lineup of stacked beauties seems mission creep( y). The main factor gaining a woman an audience on The O’Reilly Factor involved beauty more so than brains. Atop suffering in the looks department, do Plain Janes and Homely Hollys also lack insight and eloquence? Other formats established the template. Music television strangely became fixated with looks to the exclusion of sounds. Patsy Clines, Mama Casses, and Aretha Franklins didn’t emerge in the MTV age because our eyes usurped the judgments rightfully made by our ears. Reality television presented a surreal vision of runway models and pinup girls that contradicted the genre’s ostensible premise. Now cable news trolls for ratings by peddling images rather than information. They do this because it works. Cable news’s reliance on pretty women with short skirts and long legs does not go unnoticed where you might expect it to not go unnoticed. Howard Stern, in homage to the NCAA basketball tournament, created a bracket a few years back to determine the “Hottest Fox News Anchor. ” Pervy postings across the internet highlight the sitting of various Fox foxes. Vivid, a leading peddler of pornography, hoped to capitalize on the controversy by making a movie called “BLANKED by Fox. ” The first word in the title, like that last word in the title, begins with an “F. ” Knowing the circumstances but not the facts in this specific case, our judgments make proclamations about us rather than the litigants. We don’t know whether this accuser is a gold digger or that accused is a lecher. We project our experiences onto their experiences. Bill O’Reilly possesses money and power. Men sometimes abuse the latter to manipulate women into sleeping with them. Women sometimes pursue the former by manipulating courts into believing that men used power to manipulate them into sleeping with them. Either scenario seems plausible. But — hey, hey, hey — as was the case with two other famous Bills accused of far worse, when the number of charges piles up, maintaining “I did not (try to) have sex with that woman” becomes hard to pull off without an accompanying laugh track. People caught up in transforming cable news into Skinemax got caught up in the perils of that strategy. If you use sex appeal to build your brand, the appeal of sex can undo your brand. | 1 |
41 Views November 02, 2016 GOLD , KWN King World News
With the U.S. dollar, stocks and crude oil trading lower and the price of gold and silver surging, the Fear Index is spiking after a Fed President just confessed that the central banks’ radical accommodative monetary policies have failed. “Central bankers stationed in the world’s leading economies have put into practice radical accommodative monetary policy, based on what appeared to be sound economic theory. But it has not worked in practice and policy makers are only now beginning to understand why.” — Dallas Fed President, Richard Fisher
(King World News) Gerald Celente — Between the stream of WikiLeaks’ email dumps challenging the practices of Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the ethics of the Clinton Foundation, plus the FBI’s announcement to further investigate Clinton’s emails from her private server when she was secretary of state, Wall Street’s odds she would beat Donald Trump next Tuesday are no longer a sure bet.
Fear Index Spikes! Fearing a Trump victory, the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) spiked more than 40 percent over the last six days. It was the first time the VIX rose for six straight days since the lead-up to the UK’s Brexit vote. And prospects of a Trump presidency also pushed the dollar down and gold prices higher, since the word on The Street is that the odds of a Fed interest rate hike in December would diminish, the dollar would fall and gold would rally… IMPORTANT: To find out which high-grade silver mining company billionaire Eric Sprott just purchased a nearly 20% stake in and learn why he believes this is one of the most exciting silver stories in the world – CLICK HERE OR BELOW: Sponsored
It’s the economy, stupid While aspects of current market volatility are attributed to who wins the US presidential election, we forecast a sustained “fear index” fueled by economic data, not poll results.
Indeed, while US equity markets volatility spiked before and after the Brexit vote, the Dow proceeded to hit new highs in the months that followed. Thus, while volatility may subside following the election, trend lines for a deep market fall and sharp rise in gold prices are based not on a “fear index” of emotions of who wins the White House, but rather indisputable market fundamentals.
For example: Essentially blacked out of the mainstream news and barely making the business news is the latest report from the Netherlands showing global trade volume in 2016’s first quarter was flat, while slumping 0.8 percent in the second quarter. In the United States, the world’s largest economy, the value of imports and exports fell $200 billion last year, and for the first nine months of this year, trade plummeted an additional $470 billion.
Thus, while economic growth has slogged along at a tepid 2 percent since the Great Recession, it is the first time since World War II that trade has declined in the US while the economy has grown.
Trend Forecast: Facts prove that “free market” trade, the primary engine of global growth for the past quarter century, is in decline. Moreover – from the $500-billion-plus record-breaking merger-and-acquisition activity in October, to corporate stock buy-backs, to growing concerns of multiple speculative bubbles bursting in China, etc. – it was, and is, central-bank cheap-money schemes, not increased consumption and investment that have artificially inflated real estate and equity markets.
Currently, there is a general consensus that record-low-interest-rate and massive central-bank quantitative-easing policies have failed to generate global growth, and their ability to impact future economic policy is doubtful. Thus, we forecast multiple “fear actors” rattling equity markets long after the US presidential elections. Therefore, we maintain our forecast that when gold prices stabilize above $1,400 per ounce, they will spike toward $2,000.
With Gold Hitting $1,300, Look At Who Is Bullish | 0 |
PORTLAND, Ore. — It has been a difficult few months for the Bundys. Ten months after two brothers from this country’s most notorious ranching family staged an audacious, armed occupation of a wildlife sanctuary in eastern Oregon, their call to shift federal land to local control has softened to a whisper. Some of their allies have abandoned them, and almost a dozen fellow occupiers have pleaded guilty to federal charges. Outside the downtown courthouse where the brothers, Ammon and Ryan Bundy, and five others are on trial for conspiracy, their supporters have dwindled to a handful of patriots carrying pocket Constitutions and lamenting their shrunken ranks. “I had hoped there would be hundreds of people here, but there’s not,” said Jason Patrick, 44, tugging on a cigarette not far from a Black Lives Matter rally that had more than 100 participants. “Why wouldn’t you come to the most pressing court case of your time?” It is a long way down the mountain from the weeks in January when the Bundys drove around the refuge in cowboy hats, leading daily news conferences for an international audience, ripping out government fences and propagating a vision of a West in which the federal authorities owned little of the land. As he sits facing an American flag in a federal courthouse, Ammon Bundy, 41, is choosing to wear prison scrubs and depict himself as a political prisoner. Judge Anna J. Brown, however, has repeatedly rejected his lawyer’s attempts to turn the trial into a referendum on land control, chiding the lawyer, Marcus R. Mumford, each time he strays from the central question: Did the occupiers conspire to prevent federal workers from doing their jobs? “The ownership of the refuge is not up for discussion,” Judge Brown told Mr. Mumford last week, when he asked a refuge employee on the witness stand about land acquisition. “Please move on. ” The Bundys and their face up to six years in prison. Eleven other occupiers have pleaded guilty, and most are in custody pending a sentencing hearing. Seven others will go to trial in February. And those who have not been indicted are scattered around the country, wondering when their turn will come. “They’re probably going to arrest me,” said one of them, Case Fisher, 33, a former machine operator who joined the occupation after learning about it from internet videos. He said he has bounced from state to state since the end of the takeover, finding work off the books and avoiding putting his name on a lease. “You’re always looking over your shoulder,” he said, adding a note of defiance. “We’ll never be defeated. You can’t defeat an idea and a cause. ” The Bundys became antigovernment sensations in 2014 after federal agents attempted to seize cattle that the government says their father, Cliven, had been grazing illegally on public acres. Hundreds of supporters came to the family’s aid, some taking sniper positions on a highway bridge near the family’s Nevada ranch. The authorities, fearing bloodshed, eventually backed away. The episode — and the fact that the Bundys were not arrested — emboldened activists in pockets of the West where anger at the federal government has long run deep, and it helped give rise to the Oregon takeover. But some of the militia groups who came to the Bundys’ side in 2014 have criticized the family’s actions this year. The first standoff was about defending their lives and property, the logic goes. In the second case, they sought out trouble far from home, a provocation that ended in their arrests and the death of a charismatic leader, LaVoy Finicum. “Ammon Bundy and his father basically handed their heads on the platter to the federal government,” said Stewart Rhodes, 51, the founder of a militia group called the Oath Keepers that claims to have 35, 000 members across the country. The Oath Keepers were active in Nevada, he said, but he instructed members to stick to the sidelines in Oregon. “It was an ‘Alice in Wonderland’ viewpoint: ‘This land is ours, now that we occupy it. ’” The Oregon occupation has also complicated the political landscape for state leaders who have attempted to use legitimate means to acquire federal land. The land transfer movement has gained traction among some conservatives because federal acres contain rich troves of timber, ore and grazing grass, and certain state officials believe they should be able to decide what happens to those resources. “What the Bundys did was draw attention to that,” said Jennifer Fielder, a Republican state senator from Montana who heads a group called the American Lands Council. “But in some ways, it was very negative attention, unfortunately. The majority of us are committed to a civil process that is going to be peaceful and isn’t going to get anybody killed. ” The Republican Party platform calls on Congress to “convey certain federally controlled public lands to states. ” But neither major presidential nominee has shown interest in such a transfer. Critics say the idea would be prohibitively expensive, saddling states with the responsibility of hiring hundreds of rangers to care for mountainsides and forests. And they worry that legislatures would simply start auctioning off the country’s most striking landscapes. “I don’t like the idea,” Donald J. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, told Field Stream magazine in January, “because I want to keep the lands great, and you don’t know what the state is going to do. I mean, are they going to sell if they get into a little bit of trouble? And I don’t think it’s something that should be sold. ” A new legal analysis written by a group of Western attorneys general also places major doubts on arguments Utah lawmakers have made for the transfer of lands to state control. The report was produced by seven Republicans, three Democrats and one independent. In a twist, the Oregon occupation seems to have encouraged a revolt the Bundy brothers never expected: In recent months, counties around the West have begun passing resolutions specifically affirming their support for keeping federal lands from being turned over to the state. Some of them have been helped by the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, a group that supports the rights of hunters and fishermen. “It was backlash against this notion that all Westerners don’t like the federal government owning public land,” said Whit Fosburgh, the organization’s president. “The whole Bundy invasion probably set back the transfer movement significantly. Because it displayed this movement as a bunch of kooks. ” Commissioners in at least 21 places from New Mexico to Wyoming have signed lands resolutions. In interviews, several said they had become concerned that their state leaders, if given control of federal lands, would start selling the ski slopes, river rapids and trekking trails that drive their communities’ economies and souls. “We all utilize those public lands for hiking and biking and motorcycle riding, floating the rivers,” said Bill Leake, a commissioner in Teton County, Idaho, who sign a lands resolution in July. “I don’t see myself as a rebel — I just see myself as an informed county commissioner. ” | 1 |
HANGZHOU, China — When Air Force One taxied to a stop in eastern China on Saturday afternoon, American and Chinese officials had already engaged in a lengthy, heated dispute over the most mundane of issues: How would the president depart his plane? China’s handling of President Obama’s arrival for the Group of 20 summit meeting in Hangzhou has created a narrative that the Chinese snubbed the American president. Some news outlets are pushing back, fanning nationalist anger by accusing the Americans of arrogance in the squabble. The reality, American officials and diplomats familiar with China say, is both simpler and more complicated. The United States military had flown in a set of rolling air stairs, as it does on all of Mr. Obama’s foreign trips, and the White House had received Chinese approval to use the equipment. But before Mr. Obama’s arrival, a senior administration official said, the Chinese suddenly reversed themselves. The Americans were willing to use a Chinese stairway, this official said, but the Chinese insisted that the stairs be taken to the plane by a local driver, who the Americans said could not communicate with the White House team about even the simplest tasks. So the White House demanded that he be replaced with an driver, a request the Chinese refused. As Air Force One was landing, the Chinese relented and told the Americans they could use their own stairs. But by then, officials said, there was no time to make a switch. So the White House decided to forgo the main doorway in favor of a smaller exit in the belly of the aircraft equipped with its own foldout stairs. Mr. Obama generally uses that door only when Air Force One arrives in places, like Afghanistan, with high security concerns. The decision deprived the president of the grand display of descending the stairs from the main doorway to a red carpet. (The carpet was there, but easy to miss, as was Mr. Obama, who popped out as if he were getting off a commuter flight at a municipal airport.) The president walked into a chaotic scene, with Chinese security officials roping off members of the White House press corps to prevent them from recording his arrival. Even the national security adviser, Susan E. Rice, was hassled by security officials. At that point, a Chinese official said in a raised voice to a White House official: “This is our country, this is our airport. ” The official’s fury, caught on a cellphone and widely circulated, won glowing approval on one of China’s most powerful government social media sites. On Weibo, the equivalent of Twitter, the Public Security Bureau declared: “This is our country. ” “Yup, this is very China!” the account, which has 24 million followers, noted as it showed a clip of Mr. Obama descending the small staircase. The comments on such sites appear only after passing censors. As far as many Chinese were concerned, the Americans were at fault. “America was in Hangzhou, American media falsely accused China,” read a headline on the website of military. china. com, one of many news outlets that carried an article by ifeng. com, the online news site of Phoenix Television, which is based in Hong Kong. The Chinese government worked for more than two years to produce a flawless summit meeting. That the most powerful guest was left to walk down a set of small stairs from the center of his huge plane, Air Force One, left the Chinese blaming the Americans. “China gives the decision making on security to the American side,” said Jin Canrong, a professor of international relations at Renmin University. “China just follows what they want. That’s the traditional practice. The government gets used to this kind of U. S. behavior. ” The outrage on China’s social media was just a forceful expression of antagonism toward the Americans, he said. “The media feel angry. They are saying: ‘You American guys are so exceptional.’ ” The interpretation that China purposely snubbed Mr. Obama did not square with what the Chinese leadership wanted, others said. “I don’t think Xi Jinping deliberately tried to do a shakedown of Obama upon his arrival,” said Zhang Baohui, a professor at Lingnan University in Hong Kong. “Most likely the episodes at the airport were due to organizational oversights by the Chinese bureaucracy. ” China’s Foreign Ministry took umbrage at what it called the “unprofessional” nature of Western news coverage about Mr. Obama’s arrival. “To be frank, after seeing these reports, I’ve felt that the way in which a few American media have handled this may deepen the impression that people have held of the arrogance and conceitedness of some Western media,” said Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman for the ministry, at a regular briefing in Beijing on Monday. “Even before the facts have been clarified, they started to concoct news and reckless gossip and speculation. I think it was highly unprofessional,” she added. Clashes between China and the United States over the security and staging of Mr. Obama’s visits have been a feature of every trip he has made here since November 2009. While few people believe that President Xi Jinping issued the order to rebuff the American request on the stairs, the impasse embodies a kind of nationalist pride and defiance toward the United States that has deepened in the years Mr. Xi has been in power. “It’s part of a nationalist culture that he is imparting throughout China at every level: ‘The U. S. does not tell us what to do,’ ” said Jorge Guajardo, a former Mexican ambassador to China. Mr. Guajardo said he had been on the receiving end of extreme demands from the Chinese when he worked with them during a Group of 20 conference in Los Cabos, Mexico, in 2012. “The issue is a way to take a stance and make the Chinese people proud that they’re not pushovers,” he said. Administration officials disputed the suggestion that the staircase incident was part of a broader attempt to humiliate Mr. Obama. Instead, they said, it reflected how on edge the Chinese have been in hosting the Group of 20, a major summit meeting involving dozens of world leaders. The authorities largely emptied this city of 10 million before the meeting, paying the residents to take vacations. Hangzhou is a provincial capital, officials noted, so it does not have the experience of dealing with visiting V. I. P.s that Beijing or even Shanghai has. The Chinese authorities have also placed extraordinary limitations on news media access to Mr. Obama while he is here. The White House press corps, which normally has access to the president’s public events wherever he travels, has been sequestered in buses 200 yards from the site of the Group of 20, without access to food or toilets. Mr. Obama played down the incident, saying it was part of the normal over security and media access that the United States has with many foreign countries. He noted that foreign delegations often feel bruised by their treatment when they visit the United States. And he acknowledged that the White House places a lot of demands on countries he visits because of the size of his entourage and his security demands. “Part of it is we also have a much bigger footprint than a lot of other countries,” Mr. Obama said. “We’ve got a lot of planes and a lot of helicopters and a lot of cars and a lot of guys, and if you’re a host country, sometimes it may feel a little bit much. ” Still, with China, the president acknowledged, “the seams are showing a little more than usual in terms of some of the negotiations and jostling that takes place behind the scenes. ” | 1 |
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — As governor, Robert Bentley would quote the Bible before the Alabama Legislature and say that God had elevated him to the State Capitol. In his dermatology practice, in the city where he was a Baptist deacon, he sometimes witnessed to patients. And when he was a candidate for statewide office, his campaign headquarters were often filled with volunteers from local churches. This is a state that knows well how mixing faith and politics can lead to disappointment. When Mr. Bentley on Monday resigned from office and pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors in the wake of the sex scandal that ended his marriage, his downfall reflected both enduring and contemporary challenges for evangelical voters. To many of the conservative Christians who unexpectedly propelled Mr. Bentley, a Republican, into power, his demise was a dispiriting setback in an age when they feel their values are under siege. “We’re sorry for him and his family, but at the same time, he made his choices and did what he did,” said the Rev. Joe Godfrey, the executive director of the Alabama Citizens Action Program, a group that holds substantial influence in the Legislature. “I don’t know that people feel had I think they feel disappointed. Here was a man who had a chance to accomplish great things, and he failed. ” But others said it had become clear that for conservative Christians, the cultural and political issues that define modern conservative politics mattered at least as much as moral piety. That was why, they suggested, Mr. Bentley was able to cling to his job for nearly 13 months after his reputation as a paragon of probity came under fire. “The idea that moral hypocrisy hurts you among evangelical voters is not true, if you’re sound on all of the fundamentals,” said Wayne Flynt, an ordained Baptist minister and one of Alabama’s historians. “Being sound on the fundamentals depends on what the evangelical community has decided the fundamentals have become. At this time, what is fundamental is hating liberals, hating Obama, hating abortion and hating marriage. ” When Mr. Bentley ran for governor in 2010, Christian voters saw extraordinary promise in the obscure lawmaker from Tuscaloosa who liked to tell people about how Bear Bryant, the revered University of Alabama football coach, had been one of his patients. He seemed oddly ordinary, the politician who was thought to be for a state increasingly frustrated by decades of corruption in Montgomery. “People were looking for something that was more grandfatherly, something that was more wise and trustworthy and less politically slick,” said Angi Stalnaker, who was Mr. Bentley’s campaign manager. “They wanted someone that they could see themselves having Sunday dinner with, and, of the candidates in 2010, Robert Bentley was the one you could see inviting over for fried chicken and cornbread. ” He won that election, and then another in 2014. But Dianne Bentley filed for divorce the next year. Months later, an ousted state official accused Mr. Bentley of having an affair with Rebekah Caldwell Mason, a top aide and former beauty pageant contestant whom he had taught in Sunday school in Tuscaloosa. Lurid audio recordings became public, and on Friday, a special counsel concluded that the governor had committed an array of misdeeds to try to cover up the “inappropriate relationship” that had led to Mr. Bentley and Ms. Mason leaving their congregation. Ms. Mason declined to comment, and the governor quit hours after impeachment hearings began. His abrupt exit — he failed to mention to reporters that his resignation was a condition of his plea agreement — spurred a new round of pain for Christians who had spent years supporting him. “I think he’s just like all of us: He’s made of flesh and bone, and he’s temptable,” said the Rev. John Killian, a former president of the Alabama Baptist State Convention. “I believe it was the devil, and I believe the devil knew he was bagging big game. ” Mr. Bentley’s public demise, Mr. Killian said, held lessons. “There is nothing Governor Bentley’s done that any of us couldn’t do if we’re not on guard,” he said. “People always saw him as a godly man. They’re disappointed, yes, but honest people need to realize we’re all susceptible. ” Some evangelical voters, who are part of one of Alabama’s most powerful voting blocs, have already begun considering whether they should change how they scrutinize candidates after a governor they regard as a bitter letdown. “I would hope they’d be more cautious,” said Roy S. Moore, who was suspended as chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court for his resistance to marriage. “Sometimes, politicians take advantages of that attention to morality and they will profess things they don’t actually stand for. ” Mr. Moore, who was one of Mr. Bentley’s rivals in 2010 and is considering another run for governor, said that voters were willing to look beyond indiscretions that happened before politicians took office. Once in power, though, the standards shifted, he said. “Once you get into office, they’ll judge you,” said Mr. Moore, who draws much of his popularity from evangelical Christians. In Decatur, Bob Allen, a doctor, said he would be looking for candidates to take actions effectively proving their religious convictions. “Those issues are important to me, but their record and character and integrity over time are more important than what they say,” said Dr. Allen, who twice voted for Mr. Bentley and said he hoped the former governor would repent. “Things like this are going to happen because people are imperfect,” he said. Even before Mr. Bentley’s resignation, there was a budding movement among religious conservatives here to combat malfeasance in state government that has extended well beyond the governor’s office. Mr. Bentley’s departure could strengthen that effort, Mr. Flynt said, even as he noted that he was startled by the response of evangelicals to the governor’s troubles. “Secular culture is eroding evangelicalism to the point where it takes us one full year to get rid of the governor because of all of these conflicting pressures,” he said. “He would have been out the door in an hour in the 1940s. ” | 1 |
SANTA MONICA, Calif. — “Can you help me clear something up?” Gwyneth Paltrow made an exasperated face, gave her ponytail a censuring shake and continued. “I’m not leaving Goop,” she said, referring to her mushrooming business. “I run this company. I’m here every day. It’s all I do. I have a focus on what I’m trying to build. ” Ms. Paltrow had invited me to Goop’s stylish headquarters here to discuss an initiative: A clothing line called Goop Label — based on everyday items in her closet and “fashion archives,” including a trench coat she bought in the eighth grade — will arrive on Goop. com on Monday. But our chat, like Ms. Paltrow herself, moved in multiple directions at once, starting with a rash of recent articles that found her consciously uncoupling from the polarizing lifestyle brand, which she founded in 2008. The arose when Ms. Paltrow spoke at a Chicago conference and said that Goop’s “scalability is limited if I connect to it. ” She added at the time, “My dream is that one day no one will remember that I had anything to do with it. ” Tabloids decided that meant a departure (“Goop riddance”) but what she had meant was this: To thrive over the long term, brands like Goop must stand on their own. Tightly trading on a single persona is the surest route to degeneration. (Just ask Martha Stewart.) But striking that balance is tricky, with Goop Label as the latest example. The new clothing line — initial prices start at $195 for a chambray shirt and go up to $695 for a gray tweed belted blazer — is not particularly captivating because it comes from Goop, which already sells a wide variety of designer clothes. The effort is interesting because it comes from her. Ms. Paltrow, 43, tried to split the difference during our playing down her role in the Goop Label design process. “It was a collective effort, and I am not positioning myself as a designer,” she said. But she also came alive when talking about the inspiration for certain items. “I have kept an archive of my most influential fashion pieces, things that came to mean something to me,” she said with a smile. “It encompasses a lot of different time periods, lovers, countries. ” The clothing line arrives during a transitional time for her quirky company, which some women love for its mix and others find ludicrous for the same reason. In Ms. Paltrow said she had raised $10 million from three venture capital firms, an amount she described as “enough runway to get us to profitability. ” Goop, which has about 60 employees (up from 15 two years ago) is also relocating its headquarters to California from New York. Lisa Gersh, who became Goop’s chief executive two years ago after a stint at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, is stepping down as part of the move, although she will remain an adviser. At least for now, Ms. Gersh will not be replaced. “I definitely need help with operations and finance, but I haven’t really made a decision on it yet,” said Ms. Paltrow, whose title is chief creative officer. Being a (nearly) businesswoman — she greatly scaled back her movie commitments a couple of years ago — has been energizing, Ms. Paltrow insisted, even though her move away from Hollywood has puzzled some fans. “I felt that I had achieved a lot in the acting world, and I really was ready for a totally different challenge,” she said. But she acknowledged some internal struggle. “It’s something, to be totally honest, that I’m still wrestling with, because acting was such a huge part of my identity, and I don’t know what it means if I fully stop,” she said. “What does that do to my perception of myself as an artist and as a woman?” While still unprofitable, Goop is growing quickly. Revenue tripled in the first six months of this year compared to the same period in 2015, according to a spokeswoman new lines of business include organic cosmetics called Goop by Juice Beauty. But the success of Goop Label is important if Ms. Paltrow wants to keep up with some of the brands that have sprouted in Goop’s shadow. The Honest Company, founded four years ago in part by Jessica Alba and focused on products, already has more than 500 employees and is worth an estimated $1. 7 billion. “I’ve always really taken my time with Goop,” Ms. Paltrow said. “You have to understand: I am on the steepest learning curve of my life. Every day that I’m here, I’m learning what I don’t know, which is tons. ” As for competition with women like Ms. Alba and Reese Witherspoon, who is pushing a Southern lifestyle brand called Draper James (“It’s tailgating time, y’all”) Ms. Paltrow smacked that ball back into my court. “In the past, the media has tried to pit us all against each other, and it’s so sexist and so absurd,” she said. Visiting Ms. Paltrow at Goop headquarters was simultaneously nothing like I envisioned and everything I envisioned. Going in, I worried that she would take one glance at my Eastland shoes, the ones with cat hair stuck in the laces, and have me escorted from the building. Be gone with this tacky man! She would then shake her head and think these words, which I once read in a Goop newsletter: “There’s nothing more disheartening than the sight of love handles spilling over your pants or a pooched belly. ” She was, of course, nothing like that. She came out to greet me — Goop’s new offices are in wooden buildings built as part of a brick factory — and told me she liked my name. (From now on, I’m on board with Apple.) As a squadron of millennial women pecked at laptops outside her office, we talked for bit at her desk (metal top, computer, stacks of books and folders) and were soon gabbing like girlfriends as she tried on that Goop Label blazer. “It’s chic, right?” she said. Goop Label will roll out slowly, with up to five new items made available each month. (The first installment has four: the jacket, the chambray shirt, a pair of culottes and an oversize cotton canvas tote with a leather bottom.) Once pieces sell out — only “dozens” of each are available — they will not be restocked. “I’m worried because I think we underordered by a lot,” Ms. Paltrow said, noting that she is using the same Italian factories as luxury brands like Azzedine Alaïa and Dries Van Noten. How did she choose the offerings? “I looked at the analytics — what sold the best, as in hundreds of units, on our site,” she said. “They were exclusive pieces that you couldn’t buy anywhere else, they were priced under $1, 000 and they were . ” Working with a team of designers and consultants, she then looked through her closets to find “timeless, essential, luxurious basics” that she’s never been able to replace. And then she tweaked them. “I would look at something and think to myself, ‘I love the little puff sleeve, but I wish that the sleeves were I wish it had a collar, I wish it had buttons,’ whatever,” she said. I nodded, but my brain was still stuck on the word “analytics. ” Here was an actress, one of the world’s most glamorous women (she was wearing an Atlantique Ascoli ensemble when we met) and she was interested in … spreadsheets? “It’s definitely a weird move, and I understand why people are curious,” she said. “All I know is that I feel so incredibly on fire professionally here at Goop, in ways that I don’t think I ever felt when I was acting. ” | 1 |
Most of Hollywood has been silent about Hillary Clinton’s many criminal charges, but American idol Dolly Parton is refusing to stay silent on the issue .
Parton started out as a supporter of Clinton.
“We’re doing good,” she commented during an interview. “We got a woman that could go in the White House, so we’ve certainly come a long way in that respect.”
It didn’t take long for Parton to change her mind about the Democratic presidential nominee and recognize her for the manipulative, deceitful criminal she really is.
In a more recent interview, Parton called Hillary “nuts” and claimed that her campaign has “just crazy.”
She then urged the American public to stop being fooled by Hillary.
“Let’s talk about what we really need—taking care of us,” Parton continued. “I think people just want to have a feeling of security. It’s just like political terrorism right now. We’ve got room for improvement.” | 0 |
New York (AFP) — Madonna voiced anger Tuesday over news that a Hollywood studio plans an unauthorized biopic of her early years in New York struggling to break into the music business. [“Nobody knows what I know and what I have seen. Only I can tell my story,” the Material Girl wrote on Instagram. “Anyone else who tries is a charlatan and a fool. Looking for instant gratification without doing the work. This is a disease in our society,” she wrote. Entitled “Blond Ambition,” the name of her landmark provocative 1990 tour, the screenplay is the work of newcomer Los Angeles writer Elyse Hollander. The script’s description says it focuses on Madonna’s life in the gritty New York of the early 1980s as she navigates her love life and a music industry that treats women as disposable. Madonna, who moved to New York in 1978 from her native Michigan, has spoken increasingly in recent years of her early experiences in New York including being raped. — script — Born Madonna Louise Ciccone, the now worked at a Dunkin’ Donuts branch in Times Square as she pursued a career in dance before releasing her debut album in 1983. While many of Madonna’s songs have been interpreted as reflections on her life and a number of books have been written on her, she has stayed away from outright autobiographical works herself. Madonna is no stranger to Hollywood, starring in movies that include “Desperately Seeking Susan,” “Who’s That Girl” and “Evita. ” Hollander’s screenplay last year topped Hollywood’s black list in which film executives vote on their favorite scripts that have been in circulation but not selected for production. The Hollywood Reporter said Monday that Universal had picked up the project. It said that “Blond Ambition” would be by Michael De Luca, who has worked on the “Fifty Shades of Grey” erotic thrillers and the Facebook drama “The Social Network” as well as the Oscars ceremony. Hollander, the writer, previously worked on film “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” and has completed a short film, “Nikolai,” about a Roma boy adapting to the United States. | 1 |
A dispatch from RT.com ABOVE: Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton (L) and Julian Assange, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of WikiLeaks © Reuters / Darthmouth Films Hillary Clinton sparked an FBI backlash, which is now surfacing, when she stonewalled the Feds, who were trying to investigate her private server, Julian Assange said during the John Pilger Special, courtesy of Dartmouth Films, which is now available in full on RT. “If you go to history of the FBI, it has become effectively America’s political police. And the FBI demonstrated with taking down the former head of the CIA [David Petraeus in 2012] over classified information given to his mistress that almost no one was untouchable. The FBI is always trying to demonstrate that. ‘No one can resist us,’” Assange told the Australian journalist during the 25-minute interview. ‘This is treason’: Clinton’s email server reportedly exposed to hackers of 5 spy agencies “But Hillary Clinton very conspicuously resisted the FBI’s investigation. So, there is anger within the FBI because it made the FBI look weak.” FBI director James B. Comey threw a spanner into the presidential race that threatened to become a Clinton procession last week, when he claimed that the agency had potentially obtained new information pertaining to Clinton’s use of a personal email server, set up shortly after she became Secretary of State in 2009, when they obtained the laptop of Anthony Weiner, the ex-husband of close Clinton aide Huma Abedin. Weiner was being investigated for an unrelated sexting offense. Clinton has categorically denied mishandling classified information by using a vulnerable personal email address for State Department business. Fox News has alleged that the FBI has obtained new evidence from Weiner’s computer that shows that Clinton was “very likely hacked.” The right-wing network has also claimed that there is a “high priority” FBI investigation into whether favors were exchanged by Clinton for donations to her husband’s foundation, though other media have refuted these claims, saying that an earlier investigation into the Clinton Foundation, which cleared the power couple, remained closed. Assange: Clinton & ISIS funded by same money, Trump won’t be allowed to win (JOHN PILGER EXCLUSIVE) Assange, whose WikiLeaks website has over the last ten months released three sizable batches of emails, relating to Clinton herself, the Democratic National Committee, and her campaign manager John Podesta, said the FBI has cause to investigate Clinton. “There’s a thread that runs through all of these emails. There is quite a lot of “pay-to-play,” as they call it – taking… giving access in exchange for money for many individual states, individuals and corporations. Combined with the cover-up of Hillary Clinton’s emails while she was Secretary of State this has led to an environment where the pressure on the FBI [to investigate] increases,” Assange said. Regardless of whether Clinton ever faces charges, Assange asserted that Clinton was beholden to corporate and political entities that have been hidden from the electorate during the race to the White House. “She’s this centralizing cog, so that you’ve got a lot of different gears in operation from the big banks like Goldman Sachs, and major elements of Wall Street, and intelligence, and people in the State Department, and the Saudis, and so on. She’s is the, if you like, the centralizer that interconnects all these different cogs. She’s smooth central representation of all that, and all that is more or less what is in power now in the United States,” stated Assange, who said that the leaked emails presented a clear picture of this nexus of influences. Assange also insisted that despite his image, projecting hope and change, President Barack Obama became “very close to banking interests” during his own initial White House campaign in 2008. “In fact, one of the most significant Podesta emails that we released was about how the Obama cabinet was formed – and half the [first] Obama cabinet was basically nominated by a representative from Citibank. It is quite amazing,” Assange said. ‘Libya was Hillary’s war’ According to Assange, Clinton’s emails reveal a masterplan, hatched months before the West’s intervention in Libya in March 2011, to make it the signature conflict of her tenure as secretary of state, and a podium from which to realize her presidential dreams. Assange: WikiLeaks did not receive Clinton emails from Russian govt (JOHN PILGER EXCLUSIVE) “Libya more than anyone else’s war was Hillary Clinton’s war. Barack Obama initially opposed it. Who was the person who was championing it? Hillary Clinton. That’s documented throughout her emails,” Assange said. “There’s more than 1,700 emails out of the 33,000 of Hillary Clinton’s emails we published just about Libya. It’s not about that Libya has cheap oil. She perceived the removal of Gaddafi and the overthrow of the Libyan state something that she would use to run in the general election for president. So late 2011, there’s an internal document called the “Libya Tick Tock” that is produced for Hillary Clinton, and it’s all the… it’s a chronological description of how Hillary Clinton was the central figure in the destruction of the Libyan state.” But the scheme not only failed on a personal level, after Clinton was largely blamed for allowing a jihadist ransacking of a US compound in Benghazi in 2012, but also continues to haunt the country, which remains in a state of civil war, and Europe. “As a result, there [have been] around 40,000 deaths within Libya. Jihadists moved in, ISIS moved in. That led to the European refugee and migrant crisis, because not only did you have people fleeing Libya, people then fleeing Syria, destabilization of other African countries as a result of arms flows,” said Assange. Over the course of the interview, Assange also expounded on his views on Donald Trump, the relationship between WikiLeaks and Russia, and his plan to leave the Ecuadorian embassy, where he has lived as a legal fugitive since 2012. The full transcript of the interview is available below. Assange: Clinton is a cog for Goldman Sachs & the Saudis (JOHN PILGER EXCLUSIVE VIDEO & TRANSCRIPT) Published time: 5 Nov, 2016 05:59 Edited time: 5 Nov, 2016 21:53 Australian journalist and documentary maker John Pilger (L) and Julian Assange, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of WikiLeaks © Reuters / Dartmouth Films Whistleblower Julian Assange has given one of his most incendiary interviews ever in a John Pilger Special, courtesy of Dartmouth Films, in which he summarizes what can be gleaned from the tens of thousands of Clinton emails released by WikiLeaks this year. John Pilger, another Australian émigré, conducted the 25-minute interview at the Ecuadorian Embassy, where Assange has been trapped since 2012 for fear of extradition to the US. Last month, Assange had his internet access cut off for alleged “interference” in the American presidential election through the work of his website. ‘Clinton made FBI look weak, now there is anger’ John Pilger: What’s the significance of the FBI’s intervention in these last days of the U.S. election campaign, in the case against Hillary Clinton? Julian Assange : If you look at the history of the FBI, it has become effectively America’s political police. The FBI demonstrated this by taking down the former head of the CIA [General David Petraeus] over classified information given to his mistress. Almost no-one is untouchable. The FBI is always trying to demonstrate that no-one can resist us. But Hillary Clinton very conspicuously resisted the FBI’s investigation, so there’s anger within the FBI because it made the FBI look weak. We’ve published about 33,000 of Clinton’s emails when she was Secretary of State. They come from a batch of just over 60,000 emails, [of which] Clinton has kept about half – 30,000 — to herself, and we’ve published about half. BREAKING: #Assange : #Clinton resisted #FBI , and now they’re out for payback (WATCH FULL JOHN PILGER EXCLUSIVE ON RT) Then there are the Podesta emails we’ve been publishing. [John] Podesta is Hillary Clinton’s primary campaign manager, so there’s a thread that runs through all these emails; there are quite a lot of pay-for-play, as they call it, giving access in exchange for money to states, individuals and corporations. [These emails are] combined with the cover up of the Hillary Clinton emails when she was Secretary of State, [which] has led to an environment where the pressure on the FBI increases. ‘Russian government not the source of Clinton leaks’ JP: The Clinton campaign has said that Russia is behind all of this, that Russia has manipulated the campaign and is the source for WikiLeaks and its emails. JA: The Clinton camp has been able to project that kind of neo-McCarthy hysteria: that Russia is responsible for everything. Hilary Clinton stated multiple times, falsely, that seventeen U.S. intelligence agencies had assessed that Russia was the source of our publications. That is false; we can say that the Russian government is not the source. WikiLeaks has been publishing for ten years, and in those ten years, we have published ten million documents, several thousand individual publications, several thousand different sources, and we have never got it wrong. ‘Saudi Arabia & Qatar funding ISIS and Clinton’ JP: The emails that give evidence of access for money and how Hillary Clinton herself benefited from this and how she is benefitting politically, are quite extraordinary. I’m thinking of when the Qatari representative was given five minutes with Bill Clinton for a million dollar cheque. JA: And twelve million dollars from Morocco … JP: Twelve million from Morocco yeah. JA: For Hillary Clinton to attend [a party]. JP: In terms of the foreign policy of the United States, that’s where the emails are most revealing, where they show the direct connection between Hillary Clinton and the foundation of jihadism, of ISIL, in the Middle East. Can you talk about how the emails demonstrate the connection between those who are meant to be fighting the jihadists of ISIL, are actually those who have helped create it. JA: There’s an early 2014 email from Hillary Clinton, not so long after she left the State Department, to her campaign manager John Podesta that states ISIL is funded by the governments of Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Now this is the most significant email in the whole collection, and perhaps because Saudi and Qatari money is spread all over the Clinton Foundation. Even the U.S. government agrees that some Saudi figures have been supporting ISIL, or ISIS. But the dodge has always been that, well it’s just some rogue Princes, using their cut of the oil money to do whatever they like, but actually the government disapproves. But that email says that no, it is the governments of Saudi and Qatar that have been funding ISIS. JP: The Saudis, the Qataris, the Moroccans, the Bahrainis, particularly the Saudis and the Qataris, are giving all this money to the Clinton Foundation while Hilary Clinton is Secretary of State and the State Department is approving massive arms sales, particularly to Saudi Arabia. JA: Under Hillary Clinton, the world’s largest ever arms deal was made with Saudi Arabia, [worth] more than $80 billion. In fact, during her tenure as Secretary of State, total arms exports from the United States in terms of the dollar value, doubled. JP: Of course the consequence of that is that the notorious terrorist group called ISIl or ISIS is created largely with money from the very people who are giving money to the Clinton Foundation. JA: Yes. JP: That’s extraordinary. ‘Clinton has been eaten alive by her ambition’ JA: I actually feel quite sorry for Hillary Clinton as a person because I see someone who is eaten alive by their ambitions, tormented literally to the point where they become sick; they faint as a result of [the reaction] to their ambitions. She represents a whole network of people and a network of relationships with particular states. The question is how does Hilary Clinton fit in this broader network? She’s a centralising cog. You’ve got a lot of different gears in operation from the big banks like Goldman Sachs and major elements of Wall Street, and Intelligence and people in the State Department and the Saudis. WikiLeaks emails shows Citigroup’s major role in shaping Obama administration’s cabinet She’s the centraliser that inter-connects all these different cogs. She’s the smooth central representation of all that, and ‘all that’ is more or less what is in power now in the United States. It’s what we call the establishment or the DC consensus. One of the more significant Podesta emails that we released was about how the Obama cabinet was formed and how half the Obama cabinet was basically nominated by a representative from City Bank. This is quite amazing. JP: Didn’t Citybank supply a list …. ? JA: Yes. JP: … which turned out to be most of the Obama cabinet. JA : Yes. JP: So Wall Street decides the cabinet of the President of the United States? JA: If you were following the Obama campaign back then, closely, you could see it had become very close to banking interests. Assange ‘sorry for Clinton as a personality’ (John Pilger exclusive, courtesy of Dartmouth films) JA: So I think you can’t properly understand Hillary Clinton’s foreign policy without understanding Saudi Arabia. The connections with Saudi Arabia are so intimate. ‘Libya is Hillary Clinton’s war’ JP: Why was she so demonstrably enthusiastic about the destruction of Libya? Can you talk a little about just what the emails have told us – told you – about what happened there? Because Libya is such a source for so much of the mayhem now in Syria: the ISIL, jihadism, and so on. And it was almost Hillary Clinton’s invasion. What do the emails tell us about that? ‘A very different kind of warfare’: Clinton team on Benghazi committee leaks in #PodestaEmails JA: Libya, more than anyone else’s war, was Hillary Clinton’s war. Barak Obama initially opposed it. Who was the person championing it? Hillary Clinton. That’s documented throughout her emails. She had put her favoured agent, Sidney Blumenthal, on to that; there’s more than 1700 emails out of the thirty three thousand Hillary Clinton emails that we’ve published, just about Libya. It’s not that Libya has cheap oil. She perceived the removal of Gaddafi and the overthrow of the Libyan state — something that she would use in her run-up to the general election for President. So in late 2011 there is an internal document called the Libya Tick Tock that was produced for Hillary Clinton, and it’s the chronological description of how she was the central figure in the destruction of the Libyan state, which resulted in around 40,000 deaths within Libya; jihadists moved in, ISIS moved in, leading to the European refugee and migrant crisis. Not only did you have people fleeing Libya, people fleeing Syria, the destabilisation of other African countries as a result of arms flows, but the Libyan state itself err was no longer able to control the movement of people through it. Libya faces along to the Mediterranean and had been effectively the cork in the bottle of Africa. So all problems, economic problems and civil war in Africa — previously people fleeing those problems didn’t end up in Europe because Libya policed the Mediterranean. That was said explicitly at the time, back in early 2011 by Gaddafi: ‘What do these Europeans think they’re doing, trying to bomb and destroy the Libyan State? There’s going to be floods of migrants out of Africa and jihadists into Europe, and this is exactly what happened. ‘Trump won’t be permitted to win’ JP: You get complaints from people saying, ‘What is WikiLeaks doing? Are they trying to put Trump in the Whitehouse?’ Assange, Comey & Clinton: The Assange Twilight Zone (E354) JA: My answer is that Trump would not be permitted to win. Why do I say that? Because he’s had every establishment off side; Trump doesn’t have one establishment, maybe with the exception of the Evangelicals, if you can call them an establishment, but banks, intelligence [agencies], arms companies… big foreign money … are all united behind Hillary Clinton, and the media as well, media owners and even journalists themselves. JP: There is the accusation that WikiLeaks is in league with the Russians. Some people say, ‘Well, why doesn’t WikiLeaks investigate and publish emails on Russia?’ JA: We have published about 800,000 documents of various kinds that relate to Russia. Most of those are critical; and a great many books have come out of our publications about Russia, most of which are critical. Our [Russia]documents have gone on to be used in quite a number of court cases: refugee cases of people fleeing some kind of claimed political persecution in Russia, which they use our documents to back up. JP: Do you yourself take a view of the U.S. election? Do you have a preference for Clinton or Trump? JA: [Let’s talk about] Donald Trump. What does he represent in the American mind and in the European mind? He represents American white trash, [which Hillary Clinton called] ‘deplorable and irredeemable’. It means from an establishment or educated cosmopolitan, urbane perspective, these people are like the red necks, and you can never deal with them. Because he so clearly — through his words and actions and the type of people that turn up at his rallies — represents people who are not the middle, not the upper middle educated class, there is a fear of seeming to be associated in any way with them, a social fear that lowers the class status of anyone who can be accused of somehow assisting Trump in any way, including any criticism of Hillary Clinton. If you look at how the middle class gains its economic and social power, that makes absolute sense. ‘US attempting to squeeze WikiLeaks through my refugee status’ JP: I’d like to talk about Ecuador, the small country that has given you refuge and [political asylum] in this embassy in London. Now Ecuador has cut off the internet from here where we’re doing this interview, in the Embassy, for the clearly obvious reason that they are concerned about appearing to intervene in the U.S. election campaign. Can you talk about why they would take that action and your own views on Ecuador’s support for you? Pro-Hillary US State Dept ‘behind Assange internet cutoff’ – WikiLeaks activist to RT JA: Let’s let go back four years. I made an asylum application to Ecuador in this embassy, because of the U.S. extradition case, and the result was that after a month, I was successful in my asylum application. The embassy since then has been surrounded by police: quite an expensive police operation which the British government admits to spending more than £12.6 million. They admitted that over a year ago. Now there’s undercover police and there are robot surveillance cameras of various kinds — so that there has been quite a serious conflict right here in the heart of London between Ecuador, a country of sixteen million people, and the United Kingdom, and the Americans who have been helping on the side. So that was a brave and principled thing for Ecuador to do. Now we have the U.S. election [campaign], the Ecuadorian election is in February next year, and you have the White House feeling the political heat as a result of the true information that we have been publishing. WikiLeaks does not publish from the jurisdiction of Ecuador, from this embassy or in the territory of Ecuador; we publish from France, we publish from, from Germany, we publish from The Netherlands and from a number of other countries, so that the attempted squeeze on WikiLeaks is through my refugee status; and this is, this is really intolerable. [It means] that [they] are trying to get at a publishing organisation; [they] try and prevent it from publishing true information that is of intense interest to the American people and others about an election. JP: Tell us what would happen if you walked out of this embassy. JA: I would be immediately arrested by the British police and I would then be extradited either immediately to the United States or to Sweden. In Sweden I am not charged, I have already been previously cleared [by the Senior Stockholm Prosecutor Eva Finne]. We were not certain exactly what would happen there, but then we know that the Swedish government has refused to say that they will not extradite me to the United States we know they have extradited 100 per cent of people whom the U.S. has requested since at least 2000. So over the last fifteen years, every single person the U.S. has tried to extradite from Sweden has been extradited, and they refuse to provide a guarantee [that won’t happen]. JP: People often ask me how you cope with the isolation in here. JA: Look, one of the best attributes of human beings is that they’re adaptable; one of the worst attributes of human beings is they are adaptable. They adapt and start to tolerate abuses, they adapt to being involved themselves in abuses, they adapt to adversity and they continue on. So in my situation, frankly, I’m a bit institutionalised — this [the embassy] is the world .. it’s visually the world [for me]. JP: It’s the world without sunlight, for one thing, isn’t it? JA: It’s the world without sunlight, but I haven’t seen sunlight in so long, I don’t remember it. JP: Yes. JA: So , yes, you adapt. The one real irritant is that my young children — they also adapt. They adapt to being without their father. That’s a hard, hard adaption which they didn’t ask for. JP: Do you worry about them? JA: Yes, I worry about them; I worry about their mother. ‘I am innocent and in arbitrary detention’ JP: Some people would say, ‘Well, why don’t you end it and simply walk out the door and allow yourself to be extradited to Sweden?’ JA: The U.N. [the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention] has looked into this whole situation. They spent eighteen months in formal, adversarial litigation. [So it’s] me and the U.N. versus Sweden and the U.K. Who’s right? The U.N. made a conclusion that I am being arbitrarily detained illegally, deprived of my freedom and that what has occurred has not occurred within the laws that the United Kingdom and Sweden, and that [those countries] must obey. It is an illegal abuse. It is the United Nations formally asking, ‘What’s going on here? What is your legal explanation for this? [Assange] says that you should recognise his asylum.’ [And here is] Sweden formally writing back to the United Nations to say, ‘No, we’re not going to [recognise the UN ruling], so leaving open their ability to extradite. I just find it absolutely amazing that the narrative about this situation is not put out publically in the press, because it doesn’t suit the Western establishment narrative – that yes, the West has political prisoners, it’s a reality, it’s not just me, there’s a bunch of other people as well. The West has political prisoners. Of course, no state accepts [that it should call] the people it is imprisoning or detaining for political reasons, political prisoners. They don’t call them political prisoners in China, they don’t call them political prisoners in Azerbaijan and they don’t call them political prisoners in the United States, U.K. or Sweden; it is absolutely intolerable to have that kind of self-perception. JA: Here we have a case, the Swedish case, where I have never been charged with a crime, where I have already been cleared [by the Stockholm prosecutor] and found to be innocent, where the woman herself said that the police made it up, where the United Nations formally said the whole thing is illegal, where the State of Ecuador also investigated and found that I should be given asylum. Those are the facts, but what is the rhetoric? JP: Yes, it’s different. JA: The rhetoric is pretending, constantly pretending that I have been charged with a crime, and never mentioning that I have been already previously cleared, never mentioning that the woman herself says that the police made it up. [The rhetoric] is trying to avoid [the truth that ] the U.N. formally found that the whole thing is illegal, never even mentioning that Ecuador made a formal assessment through its formal processes and found that yes, I am subject to persecution by the United States. NOTE: ALL IMAGE CAPTIONS, PULL QUOTES AND COMMENTARY BY THE EDITORS, NOT THE AUTHORS | 0 |
CHICAGO — An agency that investigates Chicago police conduct released dramatic videos on Friday showing two officers firing their guns at a fleeing stolen car in a chaotic clash last week that led to another officer fatally shooting an unarmed black man in the back. The videos were taken on July 28 from police body cameras and dashboard cameras, with some of the images jumbled as the officers ran, and the sound punctuated by gunfire and the officers’ own shouting and labored breathing. They show two officers firing at least 10 rounds in the span of three or four seconds at a stolen Jaguar after it narrowly missed hitting one of the officers. Seconds later, the Jaguar crashed into a police S. U. V. and an occupant of the stolen car, Paul O’Neal, fled on foot. He disappeared from view behind a house as officers gave chase, and then several more shots rang out. Shortly afterward, officers are seen gathering around Mr. O’Neal, handcuffing him as he lay on the ground, and talking to each other about what had just happened. What the videos do not show is the fatal shooting itself. The officer who shot Mr. O’Neal was wearing a body camera, but officials have said it was not recording the Police Department said it was investigating whether the device was not turned on or if it had malfunctioned, and why. The medical examiner’s office reported that he was shot in the back. After watching the videos with Mr. O’Neal’s mother and sister, their lawyer, Michael Oppenheimer, called his death a murder. “We just came from watching Chicago police officers execute Paul O’Neal,” he told reporters. “It is one of the most horrific things I have seen, aside from being in a movie. These police officers decided to play judge, jury and executioner. ” At a news conference later, Mr. O’Neal’s sister, Briana Adams, 22, broke down repeatedly as she tried to talk about a brother she described as “everybody’s best friend,” who would cajole her out of a bad mood and had plans to go to a trade school. With tears streaming down her face, she said, “We just want answers, the truth, that’s it. ” What the videos show is “shocking and disturbing,” said Sharon Fairley, the chief administrator of the Independent Police Review Authority, the city agency that investigates reports of misconduct, and that released the videos. The city’s police superintendent, Eddie Johnson, praised the agency for releasing the video and pledged the department’s cooperation in the investigation. “My promise to the people of Chicago is that we will be guided by the facts and, should wrongdoing be discovered, individuals will be held accountable for their actions,” he said in a statement. Mr. Oppenheimer charged that the absence of a recording from the officer who shot Mr. O’Neal was intentional, part of a by the officers, and he called for a special prosecutor to take over the investigation immediately. The shooting is another blow to a city already suffering from high crime and mistrust between the police and black residents, and a setback for a department that is trying to shed a reputation for excessive force and secrecy. Still, the release of the video eight days after a shooting marks a striking turn for a department and a watchdog agency that have long been accused of withholding information about police misconduct. The three officers who fired their guns were stripped of police authority pending an investigation — an unusually swift response, and harsher than ones the department has taken in the past. Mr. Johnson said the videos indicated the officers may have violated departmental policy. Dean C. Angelo, Sr. president of the local police union, called for a careful, impartial review of what occurred. “While there are multiple aspects to consider pertaining to the released videos, it is important to be mindful of how rapidly this event unfolded,” he said in a written statement. “While this case remains fluid in nature, it is of critical importance to every Chicagoan to not rush to judgment and to allow the systems in place to play out. ” Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman for the Police Department, said department officials would not specify what the officers might have done wrong because it is the police review agency’s job to make such determinations. But in 2015, a department policy was revised to restrict circumstances in which officers may fire their guns into a moving car. The new rule bars officers from shooting into a vehicle when the vehicle is the only threat against them in this case, the officers kept firing after the car had passed them. In firing at the car, the officers were also firing in the direction of the police S. U. V. the Jaguar collided with moments later. That raises the possibility that the officers in the S. U. V. thought they were being shot at. The officers’ own recorded conversations after the shooting hint at how unclear the picture might have been. “Who was that shooting in the alley?” one asks. “They shot at us, too, right?” an officer asks. At one point, an officer laments, “I’m going to be on the desk for 30 goddamn days now. ” “I shot him,” the officer says. Pointing at another officer, he says, “He almost hit him. ” For more than a year, the city refused to make public video of an officer shooting Laquan McDonald, 17, releasing it in November only after being ordered to by a judge. Officer Jason Van Dyke, who shot Mr. McDonald 16 times, has been charged with murder. That video caused an uproar in Chicago and around the country, as Mr. McDonald joined a long list of black people whose deaths at the hands of the police have prompted a national debate about law enforcement and race relations. The angry reaction to his death, and the Chicago Police Department’s handling of it, became a political crisis for Mayor Rahm Emanuel, spurred promises of reforms, and prompted the mayor to fire the previous police superintendent, Garry McCarthy. The city later adopted a policy that video of police shootings should be made public within 60 days, and even by that standard, the release in the O’Neal case was remarkably quick. In a statement, Mr. Emanuel noted a shift. “I support Superintendent Johnson’s quick and decisive action over the past eight days, which I believe underscores the fundamental change in how the city handles police shootings,” he said. “I know Sharon Fairley is already investigating this case, and I have faith that she will reach a conclusion and issue recommendations with all deliberate speed. ” As video recording has become ubiquitous, it has come to be seen as the ultimate evidence when there are charges of police misconduct. But many cases have shown that the evidence can be murky and subject to differing interpretations, and even when police critics think the evidence is clear, it often does not lead to prosecution of the officers. Ms. Fairley, in a statement, urged people to remember that the video is just one among many pieces of evidence “to be gathered and analyzed when conducting a fair and thorough assessment of the conduct of police officers in performing their duties. ” On the evening he was killed, Mr. O’Neal was riding in a Jaguar convertible that had been reported stolen, driving through the city’s South Side about 7:30 p. m. It was still daylight. The car was chased by the police through a neighborhood of houses. Two officers in an S. U. V. who joined the chase turned a corner and found themselves headed straight toward the stolen car. They fired at the car as it passed and sped away, just before it hit the other S. U. V. They then joined the chase through backyards to the back entrance of a home where Mr. O’Neal, his back soaked in blood beneath a backpack, lay dead or dying. | 1 |
PITTSBURGH — One was a wildly successful artist, the son of Slovakian immigrants, whose alabaster complexion and shock of white hair made him instantly recognizable on the streets of Manhattan. The other was a shy film school student from Beijing who toiled in anonymity, sketching $20 sidewalk portraits to make the rent on his basement apartment. And though their paths crossed at more than one downtown art opening in the 1980s, it is safe to say that Ai Weiwei, the young Chinese striver, made little impression on Andy Warhol as he flitted through the adoring throngs. “I remember going to a gallery opening and hearing people say ‘Andy is here, Andy is here,’ and suddenly I saw him through the crowd,” Mr. Ai recalled this week, walking through “Andy Weiwei” at the Warhol Museum here. “It was incredible to be in the same room, but I was a nobody. ” In the 25 years since he abruptly left New York to tend to his ailing father in China, Mr. Ai has become a somebody. Wily provocateur, enemy of the state and advocate for the disenfranchised, he is a darling of the global contemporary art world, a bona fide celebrity whose burly, bearded presence invariably draws admiring crowds. Andy Warhol and Ai Weiwei, it turns out, have plenty in common. Like Warhol, Mr. Ai surrounds himself with stray cats, has a fondness for floral arrangements and takes pleasure in subverting hallowed cultural touchstones. Both men have also made a mint turning everyday objects into commodities. And Mr. Ai, like Warhol, compulsively records his life and surroundings — Warhol had his tape recorder Mr. Ai always has his iPhone, which he uses almost hourly to post a deluge of images to Instagram and Twitter. But the two men are conjoined by something more significant: They are both unrepentant iconoclasts and gleeful disrupters of art world conventions. Warhol scandalized with his soup cans in 1962 three decades later, Mr. Ai defiled neolithic Chinese pottery with paint, and he once famously smashed a Han dynasty urn just for the heck of it. “The things said about Warhol are intriguingly similar to what was said about Ai Weiwei today — that he desecrated art,” said Eric Shiner, director of the museum, which is staging a dialogue show of the two men’s works that runs through August. “Yet in reality, both artists changed, and are changing, how the world understands art and how art penetrates the world. ” Such commonalities are on full display at the museum. One room juxtaposes Warhol’s garishly tinted Mao Zedong with Mr. Ai’s own vaguely sardonic portraits of the Great Helmsman another places Warhol’s paintings alongside a Chinese vase that Mr. Ai scrawled with the Coke trademark logo. As he glimpsed the galleries on Thursday for the first time, Mr. Ai seemed genuinely taken aback by how Warhol had influenced his work, often unconsciously. (Mr. Ai was first exposed to the artist after arriving in New York, when he bought a copy of Warhol’s ironic quotations at The Strand.) “It’s as if we were brothers,” he said, noting the similarities of Warhol’s early bird’ ink sketches of the Manhattan skyline to his own youthful renderings of Shanghai’s rooftops. “Who could imagine that a poor Chinese kid would one day be showing his work alongside Andy’s?” The past few days have been especially emotional for Mr. Ai, who has not been here in eight years. He spent several years in internal exile after the Chinese authorities jailed him for 81 days on spurious charges of tax evasion and then refused to relinquish his passport. Last July, the police finally relented, and Mr. Ai promptly decamped to Berlin, joining his partner and their son, who live there. In addition to lecturing at Berlin’s University of the Arts — a position he was offered just before his arrest — he has spent the past year working at a feverish pace. His studio, which occupies an old brewery in what once was East Berlin, has become a frenetic hub, staffed by an international coterie of assistants — not unlike Warhol’s Factory. Mr. Ai also opened a studio on the Greek island of Lesbos, where he plans to build a memorial to the thousands of refugees who have died crossing the Mediterranean. And every month, it seems, there is a new exhibition of his work — in Australia, England, Austria, and in New York. Mr. Ai has spent much of the year immersed in the migrant crisis. He has handed out lamps to children in refugee camps, delivered a white grand piano to a traumatized Syrian pianist and photographed the freshly arrived as they scrambled off boats in Lesbos. Last month, he traveled to the West Bank and Gaza for a documentary film he is making about refugees around the world. Mr. Ai, 58, appeared exhausted by the travel, but said he wouldn’t have it any other way. “You have to work when the light bulb is bright,” he said, pointing to his head, “because over time, it will dim. ” His work has not been without controversy. In February, he was widely skewered after he posed for a photograph lying on a pebble beach — an image meant to evoke the photo of Alan Kurdi, the Syrian toddler who drowned off the coast of Turkey. A few weeks later, during a Berlin Film Festival gala, he directed celebrity guests to don the metallic thermal blankets that volunteers give to arriving immigrants. Berlin’s culture minister called the gesture “obscene. ” Mr. Ai, unsurprisingly, is unfazed by the uproar. “Art is supposed to make people feel uncomfortable, to change the way they look at the world,” he said. “I’ve been receiving criticism my whole life, but if you’re going to throw a punch, it should be a real punch, not this kind of mediocre criticism. ” His work may occasionally tack to the incendiary, but in person Mr. Ai is a calm, presence — seemingly little changed from his days as the hungry East Village artist who threw away his paintings each time he was forced to change apartments. Dressed in a black and cheap cloth shoes, he speaks just a notch above a whisper. As workers made tweaks to the gallery lighting, Mr. Ai was transfixed by the wall of photos he took during his New York years: images of the 1988 riots in Tompkins Square Park a snapshot of Allen Ginsberg urinating and numerous portraits of a and naked Mr. Ai posing like the Venus de Milo. “No one was interested in showing the work of a Chinese artist back then,” he said, shaking his head, and turning to a wall of photographs documenting Warhol’s 1982 trip to China. Even as Mr. Ai revels in his newfound freedom, he is mindful that the life of an exiled dissident has its drawbacks. Living in Europe, he said, has diminished his voice as a human rights advocate in China. Unlike most persecuted activists who have been given the chance to leave, Mr. Ai refuses to seek asylum. Next week, he will return to Beijing for a visit, a journey that fills him with trepidation. Mr. Ai says he wants to see family and friends, but he also wants to demonstrate to the Chinese authorities that he has not abandoned his homeland. “Things there are dreadful right now,” he said, referring to the unremitting government crackdown that has jailed activists, human rights lawyers and journalists, some of them his friends. But he seemed somewhat conflicted about his role — an exiled government critic or someone who willingly, and perhaps foolishly, steps back into the dragon’s maw. “It’s not honest for a real Chinese fighter to be outside,” he mused. “You’re just throwing stones. ” | 1 |
Posted on October 29, 2016 by Sean Adl-Tabatabai in News , US // 0 Comments
An artificial intelligence (AI) system that correctly predicted the last three Presidents has now predicted that Donald Trump will win the 2016 election.
The MogIA system has calculated that Donald Trump will not only win the election, but will prove to be a more popular choice than Barack Obama was in 2008.
CNBC reports:
MogIA was developed by Sanjiv Rai, the founder of Indian start-up Genic.ai.
It takes in 20 million data points from public platforms including Google, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube in the U.S. and then analyzes the information to create predictions.
The AI system was created in 2004, so it has been getting smarter all the time.
It had already correctly predicted the results of the Democrat and Republican Primaries.
Data such as engagement with tweets or Facebook Live videos have been taken into account.
The result is that Trump has overtaken the engagement numbers of Barack Obama’s peak in 2008 – the year he came into power – by 25 percent. | 0 |
LONDON — Germany’s largest bank appears in danger, sending stock markets worldwide on a wild ride. Yet the biggest source of worry is less about its finances than a vast tangle of unknowns — not least, whether Europe can muster the will to mount a rescue in the event of an emergency. In short, fears that Europe lacks the cohesion to avoid a financial crisis may be enhancing the threat of one. The immediate source of alarm is the health of Deutsche Bank, whose vast and sprawling operations are entangled with the fates of investment houses from Tokyo to London to New York. Deutsche is staring at a fine from the Justice Department for its enthusiastic participation in Wall Street’s festival of toxic mortgage products in the years leading up to financial crisis of 2008. Given Deutsche’s myriad other troubles — a role in the manipulation of a financial benchmark, claims of trades that violated Russian sanctions and a generalized sense of confusion about its mission — the American pursuit of a stiff penalty comes at an inopportune time. It heightens the sense that Deutsche — whose shares have lost more than half their value this year — needs to secure additional investment, lest it leave itself vulnerable to some new crisis. The biggest worries center on what happens if Deutsche falls apart to the point that it threatens the globe with a financial shock — and whether new rules and buffers put in place since the last crisis will keep the pain from spreading. Regulations that took effect this year in the European Union standardize how member countries are supposed to handle the potential implosion of a large financial institution. Banks, too, have put aside more money to deal with potential losses. Deutsche could pose the first test of the new arrangement. Recent challenges have underscored concerns about the limits of solidarity in Europe. From the chaos of the sovereign debt crisis to the acrimony over an influx of refugees, European authorities have proved something less than an exemplar of coordinated government action. The European Union has become a focus of populist anger, further constraining options. And Germany has opposed bailouts for lenders in other lands, making a Deutsche rescue politically radioactive. All of which adds to worries that Deutsche amounts to a fire burning, one that might yet become an inferno, while the fire department is consumed with existential arguments over its purpose. If the alarm sounds, no one can be sure what, if anything, will happen. In the worst case — now highly unlikely — the bank could collapse, inciting a scramble to pull money from markets around the globe. Institutions that trade with Deutsche would feel an urge to collect their cash immediately. Given the scale of the bank’s balance sheet — 1. 8 trillion euros, or more than $2 trillion — that inclination is likely to spread to every crevice of finance. Economies would grind to a halt. Jobs and fortunes would disappear. Despite murmurings in pundit quarters that this sort of situation may be unfolding, provoking comparisons with the catastrophic bankruptcy of the American investment banking giant Lehman Brothers eight years ago, most economists dismiss such talk as overwrought and overblown. Deutsche is sitting on cash reserves worth €240 billion, or about $269 billion. It has sold bonds that can be converted to equity should the need arise. The Justice Department’s proposed fine of $14 billion is viewed as the opening of a negotiation that could cost Deutsche a fraction of that amount — thinking that sent the stock surging on Friday. Not least, Deutsche Bank is a classic example of the species of financial animal known as Too Big To Fail. “We saw what happened with Lehman,” said Nicola Borri, a finance professor at LUISS, a university in Rome. “It’s impossible that the authorities would let something like that happen again. It has ties with all the banks in the world. It is highly leveraged. A disorderly default would be very, very difficult for the entire financial system. ” On both sides of the Atlantic, the financial crisis prompted the construction of new regulatory authorities and requirements that banks set aside more funds in reserve against troubles. “The system is much more robust and resilient because of the buffers,” said Nicolas Véron, a senior fellow at Bruegel, a research institution in Brussels. “There are pockets of fragility, but broadly speaking, the system is better prepared. ” But the markets do not appear to fully buy that the defenses are secure. Deutsche is heavily involved in the trading of derivatives, the exotic financial instruments that were at the center of the 2008 crisis. Derivatives can be so complex that no one fully grasps who owes what to whom until someone big enough to rattle markets suddenly cannot pay. Then, fear takes over, and investors dump holdings indiscriminately. This lowers the value of even solid assets on bank balance sheets, giving rise to further cause for concern. Because Deutsche has been dominated by its investment banking operations — meaning it is not sitting on a large pile of plain deposits as a cushion — it is especially vulnerable to such volatility. Fear, in other words, is not just a symptom of trouble but also a cause. This makes Deutsche’s problems the world’s problems. Not for nothing did the International Monetary Fund in June declare Deutsche to be “the most important net contributor to systemic risks” on earth. A collapse may be exceedingly unlikely. Yet the beginning would probably feel something like recent days. Thursday brought reports that hedge funds were quietly extracting their money from Deutsche’s coffers. The bank’s shares plummeted to a new low. Friday morning, Deutsche’s chief executive officer, John Cryan, released a letter to his staff offering assurances that the bank boasted “strong fundamentals. ” The stock recovered slightly on those comments, but the sense remained that the need for reassurance attested to concerns. The biggest form of insurance against panic is confidence that larger players — in this case, European authorities — stand at the ready to mount a rescue, should one be required. But confidence is not something Europe has proved terribly skilled at instilling. Its abilities to marshal a bailout are dubious. New rules introduced to discourage reckless investments by large financial institutions bar bailouts. Germany has been adamant that these strictures be applied, rebuffing a recent attempt by the Italian prime minister, Matteo Renzi, to secure an exemption allowing him to inject taxpayer money into the Italian banking system. The optics of Germany seeking a way around the rules for its largest lender would be especially problematic. The Deutsche chief and the German government both shot down a report that the bank had asked that a bailout be prepared. More broadly, Germany has been the most fervent voice that reckless economic pursuits should be punished, no matter the human toll. As Athens has negotiated with European authorities and the International Monetary Fund for a series of bailouts, Germany has demanded deep cuts to Greek public spending, sharply cutting pension payments to retirees. The Greek government used much of the bailout money to pay back debts to German banks. Against this backdrop, a German bailout of its largest bank would reinvigorate accusations that it uses the European Union as a cover to pursue its own national interests. This dynamic has force in the markets, presenting another factor that investors must absorb as the evaluate they risks of holding Deutsche’s debts and shares. “The fact that we don’t know the reaction of the authorities is a factor of uncertainty,” said Mr. Veron of Bruegel. Here is a feedback loop that amplifies the risks. The likelihood that Deutsche needs a rescue appears small, yet the possibility that a rescue could be forged seems close to nil. That tightens the pressure on Deutsche. And yet Deutsche’s stature may provide the decisive form of insurance. In event of emergency, the authorities might have to act, whatever the politics. “Deutsche Bank is so big and so systemically important that the rules will be bent,” Mr. Borri said. “If I were an investor, I would assume that the rules would be bent. ” | 1 |
by Outis Philalithopoulos In the most recent episode of this series , the ghost of Outis had fun watching a Disney movie. Afterwards, he spoke with Zootopia ‘s star, Judy Hopps, about the movie’s sly humor, and its efficacy at stigmatizing prejudice and fostering empathy for the suffering of others. After my visit from Judy, I felt reinvigorated, ready to take a fresh look at the questions that had puzzled me. I could discern three large scale principles at work in deciding whom to include and whom to exclude from the liberal tent. One is postmodernism. One is smartness. And the third, seen clearly in Zootopia , is a consensus about the reality of certain kinds of suffering and trauma. During the past few decades, the importance of smartness has if anything increased. A college education has become a basic requirement for being middle class, and parents of all political stripes scrabble desperately to get their children into the “best” schools. The credentialing sectors of capitalism have been dominated by liberals for decades, but only recently have we successfully leveraged this strategic asset into the idea that liberals are basically the same as educated people. Other sites of cultural production – Hollywood, television, marketing, social media corporations – are also stereotypically liberal, and have become much more responsive to pressure from progressives. Movies like Zootopia , watched by millions of parents and children, show how it is possible to direct corporate power toward positive goals. We have succeeded in dividing capitalism into two halves, one still ugly and irredeemable, but the other (the cultural and credentialing sectors) tamed, dynamic, and fashionable. We absorb into our alliance everyone from marketing professionals to college professors to people who just like the Daily Show, reinforcing our sense of truth by identifying things as stupid, backwards, or insane. Looking now at the other two principles – postmodernism and suffering – Wendy Brown foretold that, as foci, they would be unable to coexist. Since the time of her prediction, the balance between the two has shifted dramatically, and it has become clear that Brown was rooting for the losing side. Postmodernism lamented the modern world’s lack of orienting fixed points, and maybe tried to make a virtue out of this disorientation. Maybe, as I suggested to Foucault, it tried to establish the insistent assertion of the lack of fixed points as its own fixed point, and then covered the maneuver in a bewildering morass of verbiage. The contrast with the familiar liberalism of today is stark. We have reconstructed ourselves as progressives, burying postmodernism and reconstituting a robust sense of absolute morality and truth. The process took some time to gather steam, but is now at the helm of mainstream culture. Although we believe in some positive ideals like education, we have been especially successful at vanquishing the corrosive doubts of postmodernism by setting up negative ideals as transcendentally true. At the center of our imagination are atrocities like slavery, genocide, rape – these no one can doubt, these are things to which at one’s peril one refuses to kneel. Who can deny that they exist, that they hurt, that they are evil? We therefore pick out vivid episodes in which certain groups of people suffered, and make it clear that anyone that does not ritually acknowledge the reality of their suffering is unworthy to be part of society. In this way, we manage to stigmatize horrible, regressive behavior, but that isn’t enough. High profile instances of genocide and torture don’t appear every day, and commitment flags without regular stimulation. And so we have taken seriously at least one idea from postmodernism, the fascination with slight conceptual nuances, and the faith or fear that these nuances can produce enormously consequential effects. We focus not just on torture but also on less obviously brutal but still hurtful behavior (“micro-aggressions”); not just on behavior but on language, not just on language but also on thoughts. By discouraging hurtful speech and sensitizing people to implicit bias, we make the world a more pleasant place. Critics of progressives complain about “political correctness,” but you can’t forge a unitary culture without imposing boundaries, and we mainly focus on obvious principles of good manners and consideration toward others. Zootopia as an Allegory Although there is still a long way to go, the progress of our culture toward liberation is historically unparalleled. Zootopia provides an extensive allegory about our achievement. We naturally dread the uncivilized past. One symbol of the past is the pathetic figure of Judy’s parents, who tell her to settle and not follow her dreams. More frighteningly, the plot of the movie revolves around the mysterious fact that some animals are reverting to wildness – the past is thus not merely the past, but threatens to return. There is a still more insidious threat, which is the possibility that some part of the past remains lodged inside of us, like the specks of evil that St. Augustine once believed that God places in us in order to foil our efforts to attain goodness on our own. This fear is hardly surprising, given that we have come to a consensus that certain ways of talking that just twenty or even ten years ago passed without comment in liberal circles are, in reality, clearly problematic. The climax of Zootopia is when Judy, without any selfish or cruel intent, loses control of her mouth – and primitive, nonprogressive ideas escape from it. Zootopia doesn’t merely show us the shadow of the past, but also offers us, as individuals, hope in the exciting future. Judy avoids becoming a carrot farmer like her parents, and is able to move past the degrading experience of working as a “meter maid.” By virtue of being impressive, competent, and using the rules in her favor, she is able to rise to the top and be valued for her abilities. Leftists often worry that professional success can lead to people losing their moral compass. Zootopia offers a helpful perspective on this dilemma. When Judy reaches the pinnacle of success, that is precisely when she messes up and says problematic things. At first glance, Zootopia seems to suggest that morality is far more important than worldly success. Judy responds to her fault by taking a leave of absence from her job and feeling terrible. In the end, she is only able to redeem herself by treating herself as utterly worthless: by confessing abjectly to Nick, pronouncing herself damned, and handing him the only key that can set her free. I now realized, though, that the message of the movie was optimistic. True, if we say or think wrong things, we need to respond seriously, the way Judy did. But if we do that – and if we express support for progressive ideals and acknowledge our privilege – then we can be as successful as we want to be. There doesn’t need to be any conflict between ambition and being a good person. That doesn’t mean that liberals have to care about professional success. If you want to care about people in Africa or the plight of the working class, that’s great, too. The important thing is that we come together on the important things, like basic moral principles and recognizing the suffering of marginalized groups. As this consensus consolidates, society will continue to progress. Some people will try to derail the process, maybe due to sensitivity about having been called out, or anger at losing their privilege. More and more, those people will be seen as throwbacks. Demographic forces will render them irrelevant. Maybe they will just be swept away by globalization. Or – maybe – they can work at the DMV. The Phantom A bell sounded and roused me from my vision of the future. There I saw a Phantom, draped and hooded, gliding like mist along the ground towards me. It was shrouded in a deep, black garment, which concealed its head, its face, its form, and left nothing visible except one outstretched hand. “The Spirit of Liberalism Yet To Come, I presume?” I asked. The Spirit did not answer. I felt a stab of fear at what it might show me. Would the current positive trajectory continue? Would the future bring cultural progress in ways I couldn’t even imagine? Or would the 2020s instead feature a cyclical swing back to postmodernism? Or something worse still? The Spirit merely pointed onward with its hand. I followed it, and found myself listening to another speech, taking place not in the far future, but toward the end of 2016. Yet my sense of foreboding did not abate, and for apparently no reason at all, the cloud-capped towers and gorgeous palaces of my vision suddenly seemed insubstantial, and vain. I remain curious why the “debate” over antiracism as a politics takes such indirect and evasive forms – like the analogizing and guilt by association, moralistic bombast in lieu of concrete argument – and why it persists in establishing, even often while denying the move, the terms of debate as race vs. class. He seemed to refer to “antiracism” as if it were not an obviously good thing. I looked at his name plate. Adolph Reed? Who was this person? In the logic of antiracism, exposure of the racial element of an instance of wrongdoing will lead to a recognition of injustice, which will in turn lead to remedial action – though not much attentions seems ever given to how this part is supposed to work. I suspect this is because the exposure part, which feels so righteously yet undemandingly good, is the real focus. I did not understand why the sound of his voice troubled me so much. “Spirit!” I exclaimed, “this is a fearful place. I will not forget its lessons, trust me. Let me go!” But the Ghost only pointed, with an unmoved finger, at Reed, whose icy words burned in my ears. These responses [show] how fundamentally antiracism and other identitarian programs are not only the left wing of neoliberalism but active agencies in its imposition of a notion of the boundaries of the politically thinkable – sort of neoliberalism’s intellectual and cultural border guard. “Answer me one question,” I cried. “Are the things Reed says the shadows of things to come, or are they merely his own cynical perspective?” I caught at the Spirit’s spectral hand. It sought to free itself, but I persisted. Yet the Spirit was stronger than I was, and repulsed me. I fell to the ground, and when I arose, I was alone in the weeping land. * * * The series concludes tomorrow, with Outis reaching new conclusions and making an important decision. Sources: Adolph Reed’s remarks are from a recent interview and an earlier article . Some of the thoughts on political correctness are based on Belle Waring’s Crooked Timber article . 0 0 0 0 0 0 | 0 |
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio might easily win a second term, all thanks to the state and federal prosecutors clearing two separate probes into his campaign fundraising practices. [Addressing the decision Thursday afternoon in City Hall, de Blasio repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, deflecting reporters’ questions by responding “the issue has been exhaustively investigated” and told reporters this would be the final time he would discuss this matter. “It simply confirms what I’ve said all along and I was obviously pleased to see the issue closed,” de Blasio said in a combative news conference with reporters. “My staff, my colleagues and I have acted in a manner that was legal and appropriate and ethical throughout. What matters is the fact that this was extensively investigated for a year and no charges have been brought and this is the end of the matter. ” De Blasio has been the subject of multiple federal and state investigations since taking office in 2014. Federal investigations centered around the mayor’s scheme with donors who contributed to his 2013 mayoral election campaign, while the state focused on de Blasio’s fundraising operation of his unsuccessful efforts to help Democrats regain control of the State Senate in 2014, along with his 2013 nonprofit campaign ‘Campaign for One New York.’ The surprise Thursday morning announcement from both federal and state prosecutors, issued just minutes apart, announced that neither would bring any criminal charges against the mayor or his aides. In a statement released Thursday morning, acting U. S. Attorney Joon H. Kim, said a “thorough investigation” was conducted regarding the mayor soliciting donations from those who sought political favors and found “difficulty in proving criminal intent in corruption schemes where there is no evidence of personal profit. ” The Manhattan District Attorney’s office announced its decision in a letter to the state Board of Election. The critical and detailed letter of the “extensive investigation” resulted in the conclusion not to bring charges since the mayor and his aides relied “on the advice of counsel. ” However, Vance emphasized the lack of an indictment didn’t constitute “an endorsement of the conduct at issue. ” When questioned about Vance assessment that criticized his action, de Blasio said he doesn’t “share their assessment. ” “They have an assessment, I don’t share their assessment,” de Blasio responded. “They had to make a judgment on whether anything inappropriate happened and their judgment was it did not. ” The move to conclude de Blasio parallel criminal probes came just days after Preet Bharara, the U. S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, was fired by President Trump. Bharara led the investigation into the mayor fundraising after a lead investigator at the state Board of Elections asked prosecutors to investigate whether de Blasio broke the law by funneling campaign contributions to Democratic state Senate candidates through state committee groups to evade donation contribution limits. Just last month, de Blasio met with Bharara voluntary for four hours regarding the probe. The meeting was considered to be the final step in determining whether or not charges would be brought. Since the meeting with Bharara, de Blasio repeatedly refused to go into detail about what was discussed due to the matter being an active investigation. Now with the investigation closed, half the questions the mayor faced during Thursday press conference were about disclosing the details of the interview. “What matters is the fact that this was extensively investigated for a year and no charges have been brought and this is the end of the matter,” de Blasio responded. De Blasio refused to comment on whether it was a coincidence that Bharara was fired just days before the investigation was dropped and his personal feelings towards the former U. S. attorney. “Again, I am not going to comment on [Bharara] at this moment,” de Blasio said. “Personally, I appreciate him and his office conducting a diligent investigation and made the determination on a timely basis. ” Regarding his scheme of donors calling him for a favor, de Blasio defended the issue, arguing that it is “normal” for him to receive concerns from any individual and approach the city agencies to “assess the situation. ” If anyone brings an issue to me, an elected official, community leader, a business person, an individual, we pass that to an agency to assess the situation to come up with a determination,” de Blasio said. “I think it is normal for an elected official to receive concerns from people and pass them along for an agency to assess. That’s how we have done things, that’s how we will continue to do things. ” | 1 |
Google Pinterest Digg Linkedin Reddit Stumbleupon Print Delicious Pocket Tumblr
There are two fundamental truths in this world: Paul Ryan desperately wants to be president. And Paul Ryan will never be president. Today proved it.
In a particularly staggering example of political cowardice, Paul Ryan re-re-re-reversed course and announced that he was back on the Trump Train after all. This was an aboutface from where he was a few weeks ago. He had previously declared he would not be supporting or defending Trump after a tape was made public in which Trump bragged about assaulting women. Suddenly, Ryan was appearing at a pro-Trump rally and boldly declaring that he already sent in his vote to make him President of the United States. It was a surreal moment. The figurehead of the Republican Party dosed himself in gasoline, got up on a stage on a chilly afternoon in Wisconsin, and lit a match. . @SpeakerRyan says he voted for @realDonaldTrump : “Republicans, it is time to come home” https://t.co/VyTT49YvoE pic.twitter.com/wCvSCg4a5I
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) November 5, 2016
The Democratic Party couldn’t have asked for a better moment of film. Ryan’s chances of ever becoming president went down to zero in an instant. In the wreckage Trump is to leave behind in his wake, those who cravenly backed his campaign will not recover. If Ryan’s career manages to limp all the way to 2020, then the DNC will have this tape locked and loaded to be used in every ad until Election Day.
The ringing endorsement of the man he clearly hates on a personal level speaks volumes about his own spinelessness. Ryan has postured himself as a “principled” conservative, and one uncomfortable with Trump’s unapologetic bigotry and sexism. However, when push came to shove, Paul Ryan – like many of his colleagues – turned into a sniveling appeaser. After all his lofty tak about conviction, his principles were a house of cards and collapsed with the slightest breeze.
What’s especially bizarre is how close Ryan came to making it through unscathed. For months the Speaker of the House refused to comment on Trump at all. His strategy seemed to be to keep his head down, pretend Trump didn’t exist, and hope that nobody remembered what happened in 2016. Now, just days away from the election, he screwed it all up.
If 2016’s very ugly election has done any good it’s by exposing the utter cowardice of the Republicans who once feigned moral courage. A reality television star spit on them, hijacked their party, insulted their wives, and got every last one of them to kneel before him. What a turn of events.
Featured image via Twitter | 0 |
Recipient Email =>
While the idiot presstitutes and their brainwashed victims hyper-ventilate about Trump’s lewd talk about women, one consequence of the ignored nuclear arms race restarted by the neoconservatives, who have been in charge of US foreign policy in the 21st century, is the Russian Satan 2, which is reported to be capable of destroying the entirety of a land mass the size of Texas or France with one hit.
The neoconservative foreign policy that has produced this result is obviously a total failure and endangers all life on earth. Hillary Clinton is a representative of this disastrous foreign policy. If Americans and Europeans cannot put into office people who can get along with Russia, there is no future for anyone. Trump is the only one who says he sees no point in conflict with Russia. This is what is important, not lewd talk about women.
Hillary’s lewd talk about Putin –“the new Hitler”–will get us all killed. | 0 |
WASHINGTON — Partially lifting the secrecy that has cloaked one of the United States’ most contentious tactics for fighting terrorists, the Obama administration on Friday said that it believed that airstrikes it has conducted outside conventional war zones like Afghanistan have killed 64 to 116 civilian bystanders and about 2, 500 members of terrorist groups. The official civilian death count is far lower than estimates compiled by independent organizations that try to track what the government calls targeted killings, and human rights groups expressed doubts about the reliability of the government’s numbers. Most of the strikes have been carried out by drones in chaotic places like Libya, tribal Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen, though a small number have involved traditional aircraft or cruise missiles. At the same time, President Obama issued an executive order making civilian protection a priority and requiring the government in the future to disclose the number of civilian deaths each year. The order, which could be canceled or altered by a future president, tries to commit his successors to greater openness than he has achieved in his first seven years in office. For Mr. Obama, the drone program is personal, a defining feature of his presidency. As he expanded the use of drones far beyond what President George W. Bush had begun, he took a direct role in approving some strikes, including the deliberate killing of an American, and in setting up rules to govern them. In a seeming acknowledgment that the disclosure would be greeted with skepticism by critics of the drone program, the administration issued the numbers on a Friday afternoon before a holiday weekend. The use of a range of estimated civilian deaths underscored the fact that the government often does not know for sure the affiliations of those killed. “They’re guessing, too,” said Bill Roggio, editor of the Long War Journal at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, who has tracked civilian deaths for more than a decade. “Theirs may be a little more educated than my guesses. But they cannot be completely accurate. ” The disclosure about civilian deaths and the executive order, the subject of months of bureaucratic deliberations, carried broader significance. Issued about seven months before Mr. Obama leaves office, the order further institutionalized and normalized airstrikes outside conventional war zones as a routine part of national security policy. The order declares that “civilian casualties are a tragic and at times unavoidable consequence of the use of force in situations of armed conflict or in the exercise of a state’s inherent right of ” and lays out the “best practices” necessary to reduce their likelihood and “take appropriate steps” when they occur. The estimated number of civilian deaths between Mr. Obama’s inauguration in 2009 and the end of 2015 was contained in a report issued by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. It said the numbers came from 473 strikes, which also killed 2, 372 to 2, 581 “combatants. ” The report named Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria as “areas of active hostilities” excluded from the policy. A senior administration official said tribal Pakistan — which the government treats as an extension of the Afghan battlefield in certain contexts — is not such an area casualties there are part of the official civilian death toll. It is an open secret that the majority of drone strikes have taken place there as Central Intelligence Agency covert operations, which has meant that the administration’s periodic pledges to be more transparent about targeted killings have not been completely fulfilled. The executive order also said that the annual reports from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence should address any discrepancy between the official body count and what outside groups estimate. That gap is striking. The administration’s count of civilian deaths is about half of the lowest estimate from independent watchdogs, which base their estimates largely on press reports and information from local officials. Mr. Roggio’s Long War Journal, the security policy organization New America and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism estimate that 200 to 800 civilians have been killed by American airstrikes outside war zones since 2009. Human rights advocates and independent analysts, while welcoming the step toward transparency, expressed disappointment with the limited data. “The government should be releasing information about every strike — the date of the strike, the location, the numbers of casualties, and the civilian or combatant status of those casualties,” said Jameel Jaffer of the American Civil Liberties Union. Without the locations and dates of strikes, he said, the administration’s numbers are impossible to compare with independent accounts. Federico Borello, executive director of the Center for Civilians in Conflict, praised the emphasis on avoiding civilian deaths, but said the numbers released “don’t add up. ” Naureen Shah of Amnesty International said the limited disclosure should be “not the end of the public conversation on U. S. drone strikes, but just the beginning. ” The government report acknowledged that outside groups had published “significantly higher figures,” but said their numbers relied on reports about events in remote and inaccessible areas that might be inaccurate or tainted by “terrorist propaganda. ” The government, it maintained, has access to superior information when counting civilian deaths, drawing on “video observations, human sources and assets, signals intelligence, geospatial intelligence, accounts from local officials on the ground, and open source reporting” to determine whether people killed in its strikes had “undertaken certain acts that reliably connote meaningful integration” into an enemy group. The administration also declined to break down its retroactive estimate of civilian death by year, a decision that permits it to avoid fights about how it addressed several American airstrikes that generated accusations of dozens of civilian deaths — including one in Yemen in December 2009 and another in Pakistan in March 2011 that together would seem to surpass the low end of its range. “The U. S. government may have reliable information that certain individuals are combatants, but are being counted as noncombatants by nongovernmental organizations,” the report said, cryptically. Lumping all seven years together also makes it harder to analyze, for example, how trends may have changed since May 2013. That is when Mr. Obama issued a “presidential policy guidance” limiting airstrikes away from war zones to targets that present a “continuing, imminent threat to U. S. persons” and cases where there was a “near certainty” of avoiding civilian casualties. While there have been credible reports of some strikes involving civilian casualties since then, the overall pace of airstrikes appears to have dropped significantly. A senior administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the order, said Mr. Obama pushed for the new policy as a coda to the May 2013 guidance. Both were motivated by his desire to drain the suspicion surrounding drone strikes in order to bolster public support, at home and abroad, for a tool he believes will continue to be necessary, the official said. Targeted killings away from battlefields — a practice denounced by some critics as assassinations — have grown as the United States has waged an war against a splintering, morphing terrorist adversary whose members flow into ungoverned regions where no ground forces are engaged in combat, and as the rise of drone technology has lowered the barriers to carrying out strikes in inaccessible places. The report also pushed back against the claim, first reported in 2012 in The New York Times, that the government, when counting civilian casualties, presumes that any male killed in a strike zone is a combatant. It said a dead person from such a strike about whom nothing was known was presumed to be a noncombatant. The order also generally required agencies that carry out such strikes to acknowledge United States government responsibility for civilian deaths and offer condolence payments. To date, the United States has publicly acknowledged responsibility for only two civilian deaths — the accidental killing in 2015 of two aid workers in Pakistan who were being held hostage inside a compound of Al Qaeda when it was struck. In 2013, the administration acknowledged killing the son of Anwar the American cleric who had joined Al Qaeda in Yemen and himself been killed in a drone strike, but did not explicitly acknowledge that he was a civilian. An administration official said such acknowledgments and payments were rarely public. | 1 |
Above the simple gray churches along a dimly lit section of Detroit, the brooding eyes of Lil Wayne, who was covered in chains and holding a bottle of Hennessy, peered from a billboard in the rough neighborhood where India Wayman grew up. Her childhood had been fraught with traumatic experiences. Her father was violent and inconsistent, Ms. Wayman said, and she was bullied at school. A social worker visited her home when she was 12. “Take her, we don’t need her here anymore,” Ms. Wayman, now 34, recalled her father as saying when he discovered that she had made a child abuse report. As she considered her options that day, her brother wandered into the room. She could not leave him. And so, the physical and emotional abuse continued at home and at school. Skipping classes to avoid bullies, she passed time at the library, the Detroit Institute of Arts and Wayne State University, where she sat in on college classes until she was kicked off the campus and told to return when she was 18. She loved to read. Her 10th grade English teacher introduced her to the poetry of Bob Kaufman. She desperately wanted to become the “jazz type chick” of his stanzas. Sitting on the bed, With a jazz type chick Round about Midnight She developed an interest in African history. She started several activist groups. She dropped out of high school in the 11th grade. Under Lil Wayne’s watchful gaze, Ms. Wayman recently recalled, she concluded that as a black woman in Detroit, she had three options to get out of the city. “I could become a rapper, a basketball player or go into the military,” she said. So after earning her high school equivalency degree and taking some college courses, she joined the Navy in May 2004. But she failed an early drug test, after testing positive for marijuana use, and was discharged several months later, military records show. She then worked a string of jobs in community service, and her ticket out of Detroit actually came from one of her interests from her teenage years: activism. In 2008, she was hired as a community organizer in Binghamton, N. Y. Ms. Wayman found fulfillment at work, but her unhealthy relationships led to stints in shelters throughout New York. “When you don’t have a proper relationship with your father, you start to look for it in other people,” she said. “I didn’t know how to love myself. ” Ms. Wayman fell into a series of abusive relationships, she said. She would leave, he would apologize, they would make up and she would return. She once walked all night to another town to get away from a boyfriend, before trekking back to work on foot, only to reunite with him. Ms. Wayman, then 28 and desperate to escape the cycle of abuse, said she took a knife to her wrists to end her life, the second attempt in 10 years. But the knife was too blunt, and the next morning she was admitted to a psychiatric hospital. She has since learned she has an anxiety disorder, depression and complex stress disorder, brought on by her childhood experiences, she said. Soon after her hospitalization, Ms. Wayman found out she was pregnant. She considered abortion, but was not sure what to do until she felt a fluttering in her stomach. Then, five and a half months pregnant on Mother’s Day, she left her boyfriend for good. Sitting in a library at a computer, she sobbed as she composed an email to say goodbye to him. A woman next to her asked what was wrong. “He doesn’t love me,” Ms. Wayman said. The stranger gave her the name of a shelter in Syracuse. She left her boyfriend’s house with a bag of clothes and never returned. A few months later, she gave birth to her daughter, Naimah Ife. But the disruptive life at the shelter, Ms. Wayman said, was no way to raise a child. “There were so many sleepless nights,” she said. “The mental frustrations and the thoughts of: ‘How am I going to get out of here? What am I going to do? ’” During her time in shelters she worked at a call center. She said she hoped to use her experience to start a support group for other single mothers, as well as for mothers with children. Her daughter received a diagnosis of severe hyperactivity disorder and severe dyspraxia, a neurological disorder associated with A. D. H. D. Now snug in her Brooklyn apartment, which is partly subsidized by the supportive housing program Help USA, Ms. Wayman is discovering possibilities beyond the ones she imagined for herself in Detroit. Though she was laid off as a temporary data entry clerk in October, she is beginning a culinary arts program this week. To help cover expenses, she receives unemployment, Supplemental Security Income payments for her daughter and food stamps. On a brisk September day, Naimah, now 5, came flying into the living room. Twirling in a black coat with a tuft of fur around the collar — part of a winter wardrobe provided by a $136. 95 stipend from Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens, one of the eight organizations supported by The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund — she ran to her mother, her arms outstretched. Tall, sprightly and home from day care, she wanted to dance and talk and hold hands and draw a portrait of her mother all at once. Her mother placed much significance on her name: Naimah means “peaceful” in Arabic, and Ife is “love” in Swahili. “There’s power in a name,” Ms. Wayman said, holding her daughter close. “When you name children, you set a path for them. I want people to give her that. Now, for the rest of her life, she will have love and peace, even when I’m not there. ” | 1 |
Friday on ABC’s “The View,” when the panel was discussing that twice in recent Senate Intelligence Committee hearings, Sen. Kamala Harris ( ) was interrupted during her questioning of the witnesses and called “hysterical” by former Trump campaign adviser Jason Miller, the agreed calling a woman hysterical is sexist. Joy Behar said, “So the former aide Jason Miller it was said he was being hysterical, quote, unquote. Do you think they would use the word hysterical against a male senator? Sunny Hostin said, “They would never do it, and I know Kamila Harris. She is one of the most stately people. She is a former prosecutor and she was using that experience to kind of him. Don’t we want that? Sara Haines added, “The interesting thing about the word hysterical is its a word with a female baiting history. From hysterics which was a diagnosis reserved exclusively for women sending them uncontrollably insane and they would have to perform a hysterectomy. It’s actually just unique to a woman and her uterus. ” Jedediah Bila fought back saying, “If you watch her, and I have watched her repeatedly, she doesn’t oftentimes let people answer the question. That is a fact. She doesn’t let them answer to the point where they are, like, ‘can I answer the question?’ You need to be careful in this country or anywhere when you label everything sexist. She is a big girl, smart and confident and capable. I don’t need to feel sorry for her in this situation. ” Hostin said, “Calling a woman hysterical is sexist. ” Bila conceded, “OK, that’s fine. ” Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN | 1 |
I know I won't but a ton of stupid Merican in cities might. | 0 |
Watch Dr. Duke’s powerful new television commercial! 35 am
Watch Dr. Duke’s new television commercial! | 0 |
Not since Lincoln has there been a president as fundamentally shaped — in his life, convictions and outlook on the world — by reading and writing as Barack Obama. Last Friday, seven days before his departure from the White House, Mr. Obama sat down in the Oval Office and talked about the indispensable role that books have played during his presidency and throughout his life — from his peripatetic and sometimes lonely boyhood, when “these worlds that were portable” provided companionship, to his youth when they helped him to figure out who he was, what he thought and what was important. During his eight years in the White House — in a noisy era of information overload, extreme partisanship and reactions — books were a sustaining source of ideas and inspiration, and gave him a renewed appreciation for the complexities and ambiguities of the human condition. “At a time when events move so quickly and so much information is transmitted,” he said, reading gave him the ability to occasionally “slow down and get perspective” and “the ability to get in somebody else’s shoes. ” These two things, he added, “have been invaluable to me. Whether they’ve made me a better president I can’t say. But what I can say is that they have allowed me to sort of maintain my balance during the course of eight years, because this is a place that comes at you hard and fast and doesn’t let up. ” [ Read a transcript of the interview with Barack Obama ] The writings of Lincoln, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Gandhi and Nelson Mandela, Mr. Obama found, were “particularly helpful” when “what you wanted was a sense of solidarity,” adding “during very difficult moments, this job can be very isolating. ” “So sometimes you have to sort of hop across history to find folks who have been similarly feeling isolated, and that’s been useful. ” There is a handwritten copy of the Gettysburg Address in the Lincoln Bedroom, and sometimes, in the evening, Mr. Obama says, he would wander over from his home office to read it. Like Lincoln, Mr. Obama taught himself how to write, and for him, too, words became a way to define himself, and to communicate his ideas and ideals to the world. In fact, there is a clear, shining line connecting Lincoln and King, and President Obama. In speeches like the ones delivered in Charleston and Selma, he has followed in their footsteps, putting his mastery of language in the service of a sweeping historical vision, which, like theirs, situates our current struggles with race and injustice in a historical continuum that traces how far we’ve come and how far we have yet to go. It’s a vision of America as an unfinished project — a continuing, journey to make the promises of the Declaration of Independence real for everyone — rooted both in Scripture and the possibility of redemption, and a more existential belief that we can continually remake ourselves. And it’s a vision shared by the civil rights movement, which overcame obstacle after obstacle, and persevered in the face of daunting odds. Mr. Obama’s long view of history and the optimism (combined with a stirring reminder of the hard work required by democracy) that he articulated in his farewell speech last week are part of a faith, grounded in his reading, in his knowledge of history (and its unexpected zigs and zags) and his embrace of artists like Shakespeare who saw the human situation entire: its follies, cruelties and mad blunders, but also its resilience, decencies and acts of grace. The playwright’s tragedies, he says, have been “foundational for me in understanding how certain patterns repeat themselves and play themselves out between human beings. ” Presidential biographies also provided context, countering the tendency to think “that whatever’s going on right now is uniquely disastrous or amazing or difficult,” he said. “It just serves you well to think about Roosevelt trying to navigate through World War II. ” Even books initially picked up as escape reading like the Hugo apocalyptic epic “The Problem” by the Chinese writer Liu Cixin, he said, could unexpectedly put things in perspective: “The scope of it was immense. So that was fun to read, partly because my problems with Congress seem fairly petty — not something to worry about. Aliens are about to invade!” In his searching 1995 book “Dreams From My Father,” Mr. Obama recalls how reading was a crucial tool in sorting out what he believed, dating back to his teenage years, when he immersed himself in works by Baldwin, Ellison, Hughes, Wright, DuBois and Malcolm X in an effort “to raise myself to be a black man in America. ” Later, during his last two years in college, he spent a focused period of deep and study, methodically reading philosophers from St. Augustine to Nietzsche, Emerson to Sartre to Niebuhr, to strip down and test his own beliefs. To this day, reading has remained an essential part of his daily life. He recently gave his daughter Malia a Kindle filled with books he wanted to share with her (including “One Hundred Years of Solitude,” “The Golden Notebook” and “The Woman Warrior”). And most every night in the White House, he would read for an hour or so late at night — reading that was deep and ecumenical, ranging from contemporary literary fiction (the last novel he read was Colson Whitehead’s “The Underground Railroad”) to classic novels to groundbreaking works of nonfiction like Daniel Kahneman’s “Thinking, Fast and Slow” and Elizabeth Kolbert’s “The Sixth Extinction. ” Such books were a way for the president to shift mental gears from the briefs and policy papers he studied during the day, a way “to get out of my own head,” a way to escape the White House bubble. Some novels helped him to better “imagine what’s going on in the lives of people” across the country — for instance, he found that Marilynne Robinson’s novels connected him emotionally to the people he was meeting in Iowa during the 2008 campaign, and to his own grandparents, who were from the Midwest, and the small town values of hard work and honesty and humility. Other novels served as a kind of foil — something to argue with. V. S. Naipaul’s novel “A Bend in the River,” Mr. Obama recalls, “starts with the line ‘The world is what it is men who are nothing, who allow themselves to become nothing, have no place in it.’ And I always think about that line and I think about his novels when I’m thinking about the hardness of the world sometimes, particularly in foreign policy, and I resist and fight against sometimes that very cynical, more realistic view of the world. And yet, there are times where it feels as if that may be true. ” Writing was key to his thinking process, too: a tool for sorting through “a lot of crosscurrents in my own life — race, class, family. And I genuinely believe that it was part of the way in which I was able to integrate all these pieces of myself into something relatively whole. ” Mr. Obama taught himself to write as a young man by keeping a journal and writing short stories when he was a community organizer in Chicago — working on them after he came home from work and drawing upon the stories of the people he met. Many of the tales were about older people, and were informed by a sense of disappointment and loss: “There is not a lot of Jack Kerouac young kid on the make discovering stuff,” he says. “It’s more melancholy and reflective. ” That experience underscored the power of empathy. An outsider himself — with a father from Kenya, who left when he was 2, and a mother from Kansas, who took him to live for a time in Indonesia — he could relate to many of the people he met in the churches and streets of Chicago, who felt dislocated by change and isolation, and he took to heart his boss’s observation that “the thing that brings people together to share the courage to take action on behalf of their lives is not just that they care about the same issues, it’s that they have shared stories. ” This lesson would become a cornerstone of the president’s vision of an America where shared concerns — simple dreams of a decent job, a secure future for one’s children — might bridge differences and divisions. After all, many people saw their own stories in his — an American story, as he said in his keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention possible “in no other country on Earth. ” In today’s polarized environment, where the internet has let people increasingly retreat to their own silos (talking only to folks, who amplify their certainties and biases) the president sees novels and other art (like the musical “Hamilton”) as providing a kind of bridge that might span usual divides and “a reminder of the truths under the surface of what we argue about every day. ” He points out, for instance, that the fiction of Junot Díaz and Jhumpa Lahiri speaks “to a very particular contemporary immigration experience,” but at the same time tell stories about “longing for this better place but also feeling displaced” — a theme central to much of American literature, and not unlike books by Philip Roth and Saul Bellow that are “steeped with this sense of being an outsider, longing to get in, not sure what you’re giving up. ” Mr. Obama entered office as a writer, and he will soon return to a private life as a writer, planning to work on his memoirs, which will draw on journals he’s kept in the White House (“but not with the sort of discipline that I would have hoped for”). He has a writer’s sensibility — an ability to be in the moment while standing apart as an observer, a novelist’s eye and ear for detail, and a precise but elastic voice capable of moving easily between the lyrical and the vernacular and the profound. He had lunch last week with five novelists he admires — Dave Eggers, Mr. Whitehead, Zadie Smith, Mr. Díaz and Barbara Kingsolver. He not only talked with them about the political and media landscape, but also talked shop, asking how their book tours were going and remarking that he likes to write first drafts, long hand, on yellow legal pads. Mr. Obama says he is hoping to eventually use his presidential center website “to widen the audience for good books” — something he’s already done with regular lists of book recommendations — and then encourage a public “conversation about books. ” “At a time,” he says, “when so much of our politics is trying to manage this clash of cultures brought about by globalization and technology and migration, the role of stories to unify — as opposed to divide, to engage rather than to marginalize — is more important than ever. ” | 1 |
DAKAR, Senegal — The political standoff in Gambia intensified on Thursday as foreign troops crossed the border with orders to dislodge a repressive leader who has refused to step down after losing a presidential election last month. Gambia’s erratic leader, Yahya Jammeh, seized power in a coup 22 years ago and once said he could rule for a billion years. But on Thursday the Senegalese military headed toward the capital of Gambia, Banjul, where Mr. Jammeh has been holed up in the state house, insisting that his rule is still valid. Mr. Jammeh has warned that he will fight back against any foreign military intervention. At least 26, 000 Gambians, worried about violence, have fled the country, the United Nations says, and several senior officials in Mr. Jammeh’s government have resigned in protest or have left the nation as well. As the invasion began, the winner of the election, Adama Barrow, was being sworn into office in a brief ceremony about 150 miles outside of Gambia. The inauguration took place in a nondescript room at the Gambian Embassy in Dakar, Senegal, because Mr. Barrow has so little control over his country that he did not go home for the funeral of his son, who had been killed by a dog over the weekend. Mr. Barrow’s team ultimately decided that the embassy in Dakar was the closest they could safely get to Gambian soil to start the new administration. Plans for an elaborate ceremony in a soccer stadium in Gambia’s capital had to be scrapped amid the standoff. “It’s not necessarily the kind of ceremony to be jubilant about, but the situation is dangerous,” said Halifa Sallah, a spokesman for Mr. Barrow. But late on Thursday it appeared the situation could still be resolved without a fight. State television broadcast news that the presidents of Liberia, Mauritania and Guinea would arrive Friday to negotiate a resolution. A Senegalese military official said troops would stand by for talks. During the inauguration in Senegal, Mr. Barrow arrived to enthusiastic whoops from hundreds of supporters and emerged from a motorcade beaming. He was sworn in just before 5 p. m. his hand on a Quran, pledging to serve his country “without fear or favor. ” Several people who had gathered outside to watch on a large television screen shouted, “No more dictatorship!” In a brief speech, the Mr. Barrow called on the Gambian security forces to pledge their loyalty to him, asking that the military stay in their barracks. “We are one Gambia, one people,” he said. Gambia has suffered high unemployment and political repression for years under Mr. Jammeh, with many citizens abandoning the country to risk perilous and often deadly journeys to Europe by sea. Minutes after Mr. Barrow was sworn in, celebrations erupted across Gambia, with thousands gathering in some areas. Lamin Demba, a welder, said he felt like a free man. Joining others in celebration in front of his welding shop with piles of metal, he took out his phone and called a relative in Italy. “Come back home boy, we are free now,” he shouted into the phone. “Now Gambia is free. ” But while Mr. Barrow has popular support in Gambia, it has not been enough to dislodge the erratic Mr. Jammeh. After initially accepting defeat in the election, he suddenly cited voting irregularities and called for a new vote. “He is still the president,” said Seedy Njie, Gambia’s minister of information, communication and technology. “So, yes, he is here. ” This week, Gambia’s Parliament voted to extend Mr. Jammeh’s term for three months, though international officials denounced the move and many analysts consider it unconstitutional. The United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution on Thursday supporting the efforts of the Economic Community of West African States to ensure a peaceful transfer of power to Mr. Barrow. The resolution, presented by Senegal, which has a rotating seat on the council, offers “its full support to the Ecowas in its commitment to ensure by political means first the respect of the will of the people” of Gambia in the election that ousted Mr. Jammeh from office. The speed with which the council has taken action shows how little support Mr. Jammeh has among world powers. He has overseen a legacy of human rights abuses, including imprisoning opponents and declaring that gay people should be beheaded. He has claimed to have the ability to cure AIDS with little more than an herbal concoction. Mr. Barrow, by contrast, is an unassuming real estate agent who fell into the candidate’s position after Mr. Jammeh jailed other opposition party members. He left the country last week to meet with West African leaders to discuss how to resolve the matter of taking over the presidency. Fearing for his safety at home, he wound up in Senegal, which surrounds Gambia on three sides and has a huge stake in Gambia’s stability. Mr. Jammeh’s circle of friends has been shrinking considerably in recent days. The African Union said it would fail to recognize him as president as of Thursday. The presidents of Liberia and Mauritania met with him to urge him to step down, to no avail. His chief spokesman and longtime mouthpiece fled the country. Many of his ministers resigned. Mr. Jammeh has tried numerous channels to cling to power. He appealed to the Supreme Court, but because he had fired most of the judges and failed to replace them, a full panel could not be assembled in time to hear his case. This week, Mr. Jammeh declared a state of emergency in the country. He shut three independent radio stations and his officers arrested people selling #GambiaHasDecided . For now, it appears members of the security forces are staying loyal to him. But with Mr. Jammeh lacking a broad support base, his ability to provide for supporters who have lived off his good graces for years will be challenged. “He has nothing left, really,” said Mr. Sallah, Mr. Barrow’s spokesman. “In the end I don’t see how he can stay. ” Mariam Sakho, a Gambian waitress in Banjul, said she was confident that Mr. Jammeh would step down, especially now that many of his ministers were deserting him. “Yesterday, my boss say I should not come to work because it is not safe,” she said. “But for me, I believe nothing will happen, so I told him I will come. Everybody is tired with Yahya Jammeh I believe he will go. ” People stayed glued to radios for news, while many Barrow supporters celebrated openly. “Nobody can stop me,” said Fatou Njie, a Barrow supporter. “It is my right. ” | 1 |
The Foul Stench of Fascism in the US
"White America may be shocked by the election of Donald Trump. but black and brown America smelt it coming."
By John Metta " Al Jazeera " - Throughout this summer and autumn, I have interviewed fellow minorities, asking them about their feelings and experiences regarding this presidential election. In all of these interviews, one thing was clear: We knew this was coming.
To some of us, it hung like a foul smell in the air. The acrid stench that generations before somehow learned to live with, though it choked them. Many of us coughed and spluttered when that suffocating air filled our lungs. Some of us cried out in warning.
But when those of us who spoke up were heard at all, we were greeted with disbelief, or with laughter. Like some others, I wrote about that laughter.
We were given the assurance that yes, there were some for whom that acrid stench was a breath of fresh air, but those foolish people were few and unimportant. We were told the smell would go away on its own. It went nowhere. It lingered. And it got stronger.
And for some of us, it was more than a smell. For some unlucky ones such as Kozen Sampson, it became a physical assault.
In February, Kozen parked his car in my beloved town of Hood River, Oregon, to take his dog for a walk. As Kozen told the town's newspaper, "I started to get out of the car, and heard someone yell, 'Hey,' The car door smacked my head and then my head hit the door frame I lost part of my memory for about 15 minutes."
When news of the assault hit our small town, it shocked us all. We had a hard time believing it, especially when Kozen reported that the only other words he heard were "F Muslim." Kozen, you see, is not a Muslim, he is a Buddhist monk and, in typical Buddhist monk fashion, his response was filled with compassion.
"I am happy it happened to me and not to a Muslim," he said.
'I can't feel safe in a third of my own country' In my church, we spoke at length about the assault and what it meant. By February, we had already seen that racism and white nationalism were on the rise. The fact that an innocent Buddhist monk was attacked at all was shocking, but that he was attacked for being something he wasn't, for being nothing more than "probably not white" was what really smelled.
Still, my town assumed it was isolated. We assumed there was a small minority of people filled with hate.
We assumed that the smell would go away on its own.
For months, news stories abounded about white people verbally or physically attacking minorities, LGBT people, and people with disabilities. Still, many people - mostly white allies - thought that it was rare. Not something to worry about.
Miguel Carlos didn't believe that for a minute.
Miguel is a black designer who was living in Philadelphia in July, but was returning to his native San Francisco. "My white girlfriend and I are moving back to California this summer," he told me then.
"We had originally planned to drive across the country and stop in Atlanta, New Orleans, Austin, and Phoenix. Needless to say, we're not doing that any more." Miguel and his girlfriend took an plane instead. Too many stories of white backlash attacks in too many disparate places made them cancel their trip.
"I was jokingly worried about being 'a big, opinionated negro' in the south before this summer," he said. "But now? It's untenable. It's incredibly sad that in 2016, I can't feel safe in a third of my own country."
Miguel is not alone. By spring, many minority people in America had already changed their behaviour and outlook. Marina (name changed), an Asian artist from Los Angeles, began to avoid eye contact with people on the metro when someone looked at her and said, "Chinese people are so filthy".
"These experiences with remarks, actions and violence have existed before but haven't gotten the attention they're getting now. Also, social media makes sharing these experiences easier than ever before, so things I've encountered I've kept to myself, but with Facebook and Twitter I'm talking about it."
Talking with people throughout the summer, I saw this pattern repeated. Minority people of various ethnic, religious, and racial groups were all doing the same things.
They were talking about the foul smell in the air, pointing out the real danger to anyone who would listen, and they were all being more cautious around white people. Many of them changed their behaviour in small, subtle ways. "I wear headphones more at work now," said Deborah (name changed), a white lesbian woman who wants to remain anonymous for fear of a backlash at the legal practice where she works outside Portland, Oregon.
"Because I just want to avoid the chance of getting into 'that interaction' again."
"That interaction" was being verbally assaulted and called "evil" because she spoke about wanting to marry her partner. Even in Portland, national symbol of quirkiness, a lesbian woman felt afraid to argue for her right to a marriage that the state had already given her.
William James, a black writer and actor in Orlando, Florida, who did not want his real name used, had a somewhat similar take on avoiding arguments when he talked about the police. "The goal is not to win the argument," he told me. "The goal is to get home alive." William happens to be 4ft tall and his car is fitted with special gearing to allow him to drive only with his hands. It is a car that only someone his size can operate.
"But a white cop pulls me over one day," he told me, "and is looking me up and down, looking at my insurance and my registration, and he asks me 'Is this your car?' I mean, what is that question supposed to mean? We all know what it's supposed to mean. You're looking at my registration, and I have a car only I can drive. I know why you're asking that question, but I'm not going to say that, because the goal is to get home alive, so I just say 'Yes, sir. It is'."
This is America, 2016.
' White men are taking America back to the 1850s' I heard similar responses throughout the summer and autumn: Minority people universally spoke of this election as a threat, they spoke of being scared. White people universally saw it as comical, an accidental event that would just disappear, that couldn't really happen here.
Sarah Kendzior warned us of exactly that sentiment. A political writer who studied fascism, Sarah has written of the seriousness of this election in numerous essays, telling us that "it can't happen here" is exactly how fascism happens. Her essays are like a plan for how to avoid a catastrophe, yet it seems that no one wanted to bring her map on this journey.
In August, I warned us too, writing that "we are on the cusp of a historic decision in the US. We can make history and transition from the first black to the first female president. The alternative is to make history by electing our first fascist demagogue." America has made our choice.
Some of us knew this was coming.
Rebecca Romani, an adjunct professor of ESL (English as a second language) and Media Studies at San Diego State University, has seen this in other countries and has been "deeply appalled and offended that we are heading down the slippery slope to racially - and economically - inspired fascism".
"My grandparents were enemy aliens in World War II, we were almost in internment again in 2003, and I feel the icy breath of the ghost of E0 9066 rising for me, some of my friends and extended family." Executive Order 9066 was the presidential authorisation for Japanese internment during World War II.
"I fear a return to some dystopian 1950s idyll where women and others knew their place."
Miguel, now returned to his native San Francisco, put it more bluntly: "I've been saying all along that I'd wake up this morning still black in America, no matter who won. The south is unsafe for me because of the people there and their politics, not because of who's president."
William had been expecting it as well. "As people of colour we've known that racism has always been out there, but it's been 'somewhat' under wraps. Now it's been given a voice and subsequent free reign."
"I'm just so very sad," he continued, "that Obama has to hand over the keys to the very man who called his humanity into question. Just like those mothers of the movement, he doesn't get the luxury of voicing his anger. He has to be the role model."
Some people feel sad, some are angry, many are just more scared than they were before. This summer, such an outcome was only a possibility; now, it is a reality.
The day after the election, William and I talked about our outlook and about the older generation of black people who are now speaking words like "Hold your tongue" and "Be careful," words they used in the days before and during the Civil Rights Movement.
"Being a part of that older generation," he said, "I have to agree with them. [White men] are taking America back to the 1850s. The landscape is changing. Those in power who have a similar point of view as yourself may not be in power tomorrow. And let's not forget the promised bald-faced retribution."
William told me to be careful of that retribution when I write. "You can't afford to go full bore." But that is the silence that allows fascism to rise. That fear causes the silence Sarah Kendzior warns us about. She noted on Twitter that researchers pitched a story about how white nationalists were radicalised online, but the story was refused because the media was afraid to run it .
The New York Times reported that The American Bar Association refused to publish a report about the presidential candidate citing the threat of being sued. Let that sink in: The governing body of America's lawyers is afraid of being sued.
They were scared into silence by our (now) president elect. This is the silence that allows fascism to rise.
Silence is what hog-tied the Republican Party, fear of retribution caused them to accept their fate. The silence of Liberal America allowed a demagogue to rise as they laughed at him and his followers.
And then there's the silence of the Democratic Party. A silence of short-term economic goals and the knowledge that they didn't have to actually perform for marginalised communities in order to be "owed" their votes.
Many of us know that the Democratic Party was no small part of what was to come.
This has been brewing since the neo-liberals took over Congress, increasingly gutting anti-trust regulations, workers' protections, promoting violent policies towards other nations "in our national interests", and ever moving the party towards the right.
The appearance of Democrats as disconnected and "the educated elite" was bolstered by the fact that, by and large, the national party turned its back on both actual peace in the rest of the world and on the survival of the working-class whites who should have been part of its base.
Today working-class whites can't look to the Democrats for real support, and minority people are increasingly angered that their vote never results in substantive change for the better. Is it any surprise that the minority vote was apathetic and the white vote was against them?
And yet, still, many people were surprised.
There is nothing at all surprising here. This is a trend that has been nearly a century in the making. Minority people across America - especially black women - have been warning us about it while Liberal America laughed at John Oliver's jokes.
Now Liberal America is reeling. Hamid Dabashi wrote in Al Jazeera that "Liberal America is now scared that [he] will do to America what America has done to the world."
" For the world at large," Dabashi wrote, "and at the receiving end of American military might, [he] is the very quintessence of America because [he] is what America does to the world, and now it has come dangerously close to do unto itself what it has habitually done unto others."
This is certainly true, but it's not the entire truth. The truth is that America is dangerously close to doing unto it's white self what it has habitually done to others. America, as a whole, has never had much of a problem doing exactly that to its black and brown citizens.
Ask black and Latino people who have lived for generations with an increasingly militarised police force if things will suddenly be different for them in America. Ask the Native people protesting for water security at Standing Rock if life will suddenly be different for them in America.
When has America not been a colonial power to its black and brown people? At its best, America holds a grudging tolerance for us - giving us access to the legal system, yes, but modifying it for white convenience and "safety". At its worst, America attacks black and brown citizens with laws designed to deny black agency and meets black freedom with military force. Even now, America gasses indigenous brown people on their native land in favour of a corporate entity.
The truth is that for many minority people America has always treated them the way that it has treated the world. The only thing that has changed is that now America is about to turn on its white citizens too.
This is what Jean-Paul Voilleque, a straight, white lawyer in Portland, found the day after the election. He was dressed in his business casual jeans and a bright blue shirt, and was met on his way to work by the new regime. Crossing a footbridge over the Willamette River, a white man "in well-worn clothes" shouted that he was "a faggot". Another white woman, wearing a scarf to cover her head from the chill, was told to go back to her own country.
Martha, a white public school teacher is "furious at myself, a middle-class heterosexual white woman, for being a part of what got this country to last night's horror show. My heart was shredded last night for those in our country whose lives have been pushed even further to the margins by their fellow Americans."
But this isn't about the historically marginalised any more. As of this election, even straight, white Americans will be pushed to the margins. We have not only emboldened a white racist backlash against black and brown people, we have emboldened a backlash against anyone who is not white in the right way.
This is what we have become. This is what decades of Democratic complacency and Republican racism have led to. This is what decades of liberals' silent acceptance of racism and misogyny have led to. This backlash is what comes from liberal talk of "post-racial" America simply because we had a black president.
It's disheartening, but it's not surprising. Many of us knew this was coming. We have choked on the foul stench of white supremacy for a very long time. In many ways, it was what we expected to happen.
Miguel put it best: "That a white millionaire huckster won the presidency on the back of racism, misogyny, breaking of treaties with natives, and media trickery is the most American thing to ever happen in America."
White America may be surprised by this election's result, but black and brown people have warned of this for a long time. It's just that white America doesn't seem able to listen to a black voice.
John Metta has worked as a cook, groundskeeper, store clerk, park ranger, Navy submariner, Army wartime medic, hydrologist, school teacher, software developer, mathematical modeller, and underwater archaeologist. Before any of these jobs, and during them all, he was writing. Always writing. | 0 |
The World Health Organization declared an end to its global health emergency over the spread of the Zika virus on Friday, prompting dismay from some public health experts confronting the epidemic. An agency advisory committee said it ended the emergency — formally known as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern — because Zika is now shown to be a dangerous disease, like malaria or yellow fever, and should be viewed as an ongoing threat met as other diseases are, sometimes with W. H. O. help. Committee members repeatedly emphasized that they did not consider the Zika crisis over. “We are not downgrading the importance of Zika,” said Dr. Peter Salama, executive director of the W. H. O. ’s health emergencies program. “We are sending the message that Zika is here to stay and the W. H. O. response is here to stay. ” Like all diseases, Zika is seasonal and may repeatedly return to countries with the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that carry it, Dr. Salama added. Individual countries facing serious new Zika outbreaks could still declare local emergencies, said Dr. David L. Heymann, chair of the advisory committee. But other experts worried that the W. H. O. ’s declaration might slow the international response to an epidemic that is still spreading, and lull people at risk into thinking they were safe. Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which is funding efforts to find a Zika vaccine, suggested that it was premature to lift the state of emergency since summer is just beginning in the Southern hemisphere. “Are we going to see a resurgence in Brazil, Colombia and elsewhere?” he asked. “If they pull back on the emergency, they’d better be able to reinstate it. Why not wait a couple of months to see what happens?” His agency would not slow down its vaccine efforts, he said. Since the W. H. O. first declared a state of emergency on Feb. 1, the Zika virus has spread to almost every country in the Western Hemisphere except Canada. Thousands of babies suffer deformities caused by the infection, and more are expected. Recent outbreaks and related birth defects have also been detected in Southeast Asia, although scientists believe the Zika virus has circulated there for decades. The most severe deformity is microcephaly, a tiny head with a severely underdeveloped brain but fetuses have also been killed by the virus, and infected infants have been born blind, deaf, with clubbed feet and permanent limb rigidity. Scientists also fear that many infected babies who appear normal now may suffer from intellectual deficits or mental illnesses later in their lives. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expressed no opinion about the W. H. O. ’s decision, but noted that it “did not change the urgent need to continue our work. ” The agency also reiterated the warning it issued in January that pregnant women should avoid traveling to areas where the virus was being transmitted. Other experts, like Dr. Fauci, were more critical. The W. H. O. decision is “unwise,” said Dr. Lawrence O. Gostin, director of Georgetown University’s O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law. Although the virus is not killing or deforming as many babies as originally expected, “the international response has been lethargic,” Dr. Gostin said. “W. H. O. ’s action to call off the global emergency has provided reason for governments and donors to pull back even more,” he said. Even if the outbreak no longer meets the technical definition of an emergency under 2005 international health regulations, there is an important psychological component to declaring an emergency. Headlines suggesting the crisis is over may lead people to take fewer precautions against sexual and transmission, experts said. “We are still not out of the woods,” said Scott C. Weaver, a virologist at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston who was among the first to warn that the virus threatened the Americas. The disaster in northeast Brazil, where more than 2, 000 babies have been born with microcephaly, will probably not be repeated, Mr. Weaver said. And he “would not be surprised if the disease had run its course in Central America and the Caribbean. ” But, he added, “I think the worst is yet to come in southern Brazil — places like São Paulo. And some places in the Amazon haven’t seen the virus at all yet. ” When a large portion of a population has been infected with a virus and has recovered, rising “herd immunity” usually ends the transmission of a virus for several years, until enough susceptible victims are born. Dr. Albert I. Ko, a Yale epidemiologist who has worked in northeast Brazil for years, said he understood the W. H. O. ’s rationale but felt the agency had acted too soon. The full extent of the damage in Latin America is unknown, he said, because many infected babies are yet to be born. Also, Asian governments are just beginning to realize that they face a crisis, he added, and may now take fewer countermeasures. When the W. H. O. declared an emergency in February, it was intended in part to get scientists to explore the connection and to make countries cooperate in fighting the epidemic. At the time, it was unknown whether Brazil’s surge in microcephalic babies was caused by the Zika virus, which had been discovered in 1947 and was considered a mild disease. Later, W. H. O. officials declared themselves satisfied that Zika was the main cause of the microcephaly outbreak. In a later meeting, officials decided that the risk was not sufficient to justify canceling the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, but was high enough that pregnant women should avoid traveling to the area. | 1 |
BNI Store Nov 2 2016 WHITE FLIGHT? Or is it white fright? British multiculturalism has created segregation in towns where the white population is fleeing as the Muslim population is exploding White and mainly Muslim minority groups are now more isolated from each other than ever before – while white populations in towns and cities have sunk to record lows – now less than 50% in the last decade alone, it has been revealed. UK Express In Newham, east London, just 16 per cent of the population are white compared to 33 per cent 10 years ago. And Blackburn has ranked as one of the most segregated town in Britain, where in the Whalley Range area 95 per cent of people are Muslim and a local butcher has admitted he has never served a white person in the whole of his time there. Mohammed Tabrez Noorji, who opened his halal butcher shop last year, said: “I do sometimes speak to the white people when they walk past but there is nothing for them to buy here. “It is not good that we all live separately but how can we fix this problem? Muslim families like to live in the same area as each other so we can support one another, but then the white people move out. “It’s not that we deliberately choose to live separately – it is just what happens. We want to live in this area because we are close to the mosques and all our families are very close to each other.” And experts warn matters will increase in the same direction. Academic Ted Cantle, a Government advisor on community adhesion, has warned the 2021 census will reveal polarisation has got even greater. The research, published by Open Democracy, calls on the Government to do more to promote mixed communities. The calls have been made particularly relevant in light of the spike in hate crime reported since the Brexit referendum on June 23. But not everyone wants ‘community adhesion’ to be encouraged. Retired taxi driver Ian Goodliffe, who previously worked at a ‘white only’ taxi firm, said: “There are certain areas where white people no longer go and the same for Muslims. They lead very separate lives. “There is an element of fear on both sides and then there is of course this awful racism. I hear it all the time. “It is sometimes a gang mentality and everyone wants to stick to their own. There are whole parts of Blackburn where a white person would not buy a house but then there is the same for the Muslims. “There is a mutual distrust and the only way to change that is for people to mix, but we are at a total impasse and it is only going to get worse.” Professor Cantle also said he met a Yorkshireman who said he was the first Muslim to move into a street and within three years all the white families had gone. He said: “ Some of those families made no bones about it – they are moving out because ‘they’ are moving in.” The study, conducted by integration experts Professor Cantle and Professor Eric Kaufman, has revealed that white and minority groups are now more isolated from each other than ever before – even though England as a whole is more ethnically mixed. Polarization mainly occurs in urban areas, with some places in the UK seeing a decrease in the white population of more than 50 per cent between 1991 and 2011. Towns and cities, such as Birmingham, Leicester, Slough, Luton, Bradford and London have seen the “striking” decrease occur more rapidly than other parts of the UK, it has been claimed. P rofessor Cantle said: “The focus of policy needs to shift, this is not just about minorities. “Politicians and policy-makers need to encourage white British residents to remain in diverse areas. “To choose, rather than avoid, diverse areas when they do re-locate, encouraging similar choices with respect to placing pupils in diverse schools. “In other words to create a positive choice for mixed areas and a shared society.” The study comes as the Government is about to deliver a major review into integration, segregation and extremism. Labour’s Chuka Umunna, chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Social Integration, said: “During a year in which our country has seemed more divided than at any point in modern history, there are few questions which require investigation more urgently than the matter of how well we are living together. “Equally, however – at a time in which our political debate has become yet more polarized and media headlines yet more fraught – there are few questions which it can seem harder to get to the bottom of. “It’s clear that, whilst the UK is becoming increasingly diverse, levels of integration are not keeping pace.” | 0 |
Tom Cahill | October 28, 2016
Native Americans attempting to stop a pipeline from being built on their land and water just got assistance from a large herd of wild buffalo.
Indigenous culture honors American bison (known as Tatanka Oyate, or Buffalo Nation) as a symbol of sacrifice, as the bison give their lives to provide food, shelter, and clothing through the use of their meat and their hides. Native Americans maintain a spiritual tradition with bison , believing that as long as buffalo — a gift from the Great Spirit — roam free and as long as the herds are bountiful, the sovereignty of indigenous people would remain strong.
And in the midst of mass arrests, mace attacks, and beatings from batons, a stampede of bison suddenly appeared near the Standing Rock protest camp. A cry of joy reportedly erupted from the Standing Rock Sioux, as they had been praying for assistance from the Tatanka Oyate during their standoff with riot police and national guardsmen.
Okay here you go… it is a beautiful thing… WATCH. The Tatanka (Pte) Oyate Buffalo Nation stands with Standing Rock…
Posted by Walt Pourier on Thursday, October 27, 2016
As the police response to the Sioux’s ongoing nonviolent civil disobedience escalates, tribal leaders are calling on state and federal governments to respect the constitutional rights of water protectors and stop the mistreatment of the indigenous community.
“We call on the state of North Dakota to oversee the actions of local law enforcement to, first and foremost, ensure everyone’s safety. The Department of Justice must send overseers immediately to ensure the protection of First Amendment rights and the safety of thousands here at Standing Rock,” wrote David Archambault II , chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe. “DOJ can no longer ignore our requests.”
Tom Cahill is a writer for US Uncut based in the Pacific Northwest. He specializes in coverage of political, economic, and environmental news. You can contact him via email at [email protected] | 0 |
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks during a news conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, December 5, 2012.
NEW YORK — As the bizarre 2016 presidential election nears its end, activists in the United States are considering the prospects for war and peace under the next administration.
And with Hillary Clinton leading comfortably in most polls, the Democratic nominee’s militaristic record, as well as her promises to expand the use of force, are sparking concern.
“Clinton is one of the biggest war-mongers the country has,” Joe Lombardo, co-coordinator of the United National Antiwar Coalition , told MintPress News.
“She pushed for the bombing of Libya and the regime change in that country. She has supported a no-fly zone in Syria, which can put the U.S. in direct conflict with Russia.”
On the campaign trail, Clinton has repeatedly advocated a “no-fly zone” in Syria, an aggressive move necessarily accompanied by a widespread bombing campaign, similar to those in Iraq and Libya, which were followed by expanded interventions to impose regime change.
Senior U.S. military pilots have warned that the proposal could plunge the United States into direct conflict with Russia, whose air force is currently deployed over Syria.
In September, Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate that the prospect “requires us to go to war against Syria and Russia.”
‘Kill a lot of Syrians’ “It is critical that we not be confused about what Clinton’s promise of a no-fly zone will mean,” Meredith Aby of the Minneapolis-based Anti-War Committee told MintPress.
“It is an escalation of U.S. involvement in the Syrian civil war and it will mean an increase in casualties.”
In 2013, Clinton herself admitted in a paid speech to Goldman Sachs, obtained and released by WikiLeaks in September, that her proposal would “kill a lot of Syrians.”
“To have a no-fly zone you have to take out all of the air defense, many of which are located in populated areas,” she said.
Beyond Syria, Clinton has also threatened to attack and “totally obliterate” Iran , and she has repeatedly promised to take the United States’ ties with Israel “to the next level.”
In August, after accusing Russia and China of hacking U.S. computer systems, she warned : “We will be ready with serious political, economic and military responses.”
‘A voice for war since 2002’ US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, left, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu talk in Jerusalem, Israel, Monday, July 16, 2012.
These statements, along with Clinton’s long, unbroken record of supporting military interventions, have anti-war activists eying the future warily.
“Many in the anti-war movement understand the dangers of a Clinton presidency,” Aby said.
“From her resume it is fairly obvious she will be a hawk, more so than President Obama and President Clinton. She has been a voice for war since 2002 when she voted for war in Iraq.”
Beyond Clinton’s explicit threats of wars, her administration may also seek to expand the use of “soft power,” ranging from diplomatic assistance and military aid to subversion and coups, in pursuit of its foreign policy goals.
“She has called for boosting U.S. support for Israeli missile defense systems and supports helping Israel with technology to fight in Gaza,” Aby said, adding:
“On the campaign trail, she has denounced the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement as a threat to Israel. And while she hasn’t campaigned on it, she is no friend of Latin America. Her own emails show the role she played in helping provide support for the coup in Honduras.”
Lombardo also noted that regions further removed from the headlines than flashpoints like Syria could face similar threats from a Hillary Clinton administration.
“The Philippines is heating up and Clinton has a history in Latin America, where there are many places that the U.S. would like to see regime change,” he said.
‘A very unpopular president from day one’ In the waning months of the campaign, both Clinton and her Republican rival, Donald Trump, have emerged as historically unpopular candidates , more so than others in the era of scientific polling.
Indeed, while Trump’s aggression has kept his popularity below Clinton’s, she recently surpassed the bellicose billionaire as the least-liked candidate in history.
A poll released by ABC News and the Washington Post on Tuesday showed Clinton’s unpopularity had reached a record-breaking 60 percent, while Trump’s stood at 58 percent.
Despite her jingoism and promises to expand U.S. military efforts far beyond those of Barack Obama, organizers hope this public disdain may give them room to maneuver.
“Although Clinton will win the presidency, she will be a very unpopular president from day one, which will give us the political space to organize opposition to her foreign policy,” Aby said.
Lombardo agreed. “Clinton is very unpopular, and while the election of Obama put a damper on the anti-war movement, I believe we will see that turn around under Clinton.”
He also noted the growth of domestic social movements, like Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter, that could herald a resurgence in mobilization.
“There is a downturn in the economy, distrust of the government and the system as a whole,” Lombardo said. “The connections with the wars abroad and the wars at home is clear to more and more people. I think a movement against increased war can be explosive and powerful during a Clinton administration.”
But he added that there was much work to be done. “Although anti-war sentiment in the U.S. is high, the anti-war movement in weak compared to where it was in the past.”
‘No optimism, only apprehension’ A woman with the words “hands off” painted on her face takes part in a protest organized by the Stop the War coalition calling for no military attack on Syria from the U.S., Britain or France, across the road from the entrance of Downing Street in London, Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2013.
As the clock ticks down to the election, numerous organizations have launched new efforts they hope will preempt the war drive expected to start soon after Jan. 20.
Along with other groups and individual supporters, the United National Antiwar Coalition launched a “Hands Off Syria Coalition” and accompanying statement against further U.S. intervention in the war-torn country.
The effort “is getting a tremendous response,” Lombardo said.
Other organizations, including the ANSWER Coalition and International Action Center , have called for protests against the inauguration in Washington.
“There’s no optimism, only apprehension,” International Action Center co-director Sara Flounders told MintPress. “People know in their bones that a larger war is coming. From the first day of a new administration, we need to send an angry warning.”
But with the United States fatigued from a grueling election season that has left few residents with positive impressions of either candidate, widespread distrust of the political system may deny the new president the mandate he or she would need to embark on new military adventures.
“I think people are less naive now then they were eight years ago,” Aby said. “People understand that foreign policy is not an issue that truly separates the two major party candidates.” | 0 |
Fulfilling a commitment he made last week to pursue baseless innuendo of conflicts of interest between Presiden | 0 |
WASHINGTON — In Florida, protesters swarmed the Capitol rotunda, one hoisting a “Trump Is Too Rusky” sign featuring a hammer and sickle. In Wisconsin’s statehouse, a heckler shouted, “We’re all going to go to war and die thanks to you,” during the formal meeting of the Electoral College. And in New York, an elector by the name of William Jefferson Clinton cast his vote for his wife and then came out to make plain that he believes Donald J. Trump won the presidency only because of outside interference in the election. “We had the Russians and the F. B. I. and she couldn’t prevail against that, but she did everything else and still won by 2. 8 million votes,” Mr. Clinton said, his determined smile belying his fury. The meeting of the Electoral College after presidential elections has long been little more than a formality, with political insiders gathering to ratify the preferences of their state’s voters and distribute 538 electoral votes. Yet as with so much else in this turbulent election year, even that civic ritual was punctuated by anger and dissent. Democrats were unable to persuade enough electors to withhold their support for Mr. Trump. He easily cleared the threshold needed to defeat Hillary Clinton, with only two Republican electors declining to cast their vote for the . But the protests at state capitols across the country offered a preview of a tumultuous inauguration and first 100 days of the new administration. Presidential electors are bound by tradition and often state law to support their party’s candidates. But this time, many Republican electors were inundated with phone calls, emails and even threats demanding that they vote for someone other than Mr. Trump. Leaders of groups that were lobbying the electors had privately believed they had a chance to sway enough Republican electors to defect, denying him an Electoral College majority and throwing the election to the House of Representatives. But while Mr. Trump’s opponents needed 37 Republican defectors to bring his tally below 270, the bulk of electors who broke ranks — four in Washington State — were Democrats who otherwise would have voted for Mrs. Clinton. Instead, three voted for former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, a Republican, and one for Faith Spotted Eagle, a Native American tribal leader who has led opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline. Kellyanne Conway, Mr. Trump’s campaign manager, said the election “wasn’t a squeaker. ” “The professional political left is attempting to foment a permanent opposition that is corrosive to our constitutional democracy and ignores what just happened in this election,” she said. Liberals cannot, she added, “wave magic pixie dust and make this go away. ” As for whether Mr. Trump would now begin to offer a hand of friendship to his critics, Ms. Conway noted that he had met with multiple Democrats and spoken with President Obama “several times. ” “He said, ‘I’ll be president of all people,’ but the left is trying to delegitimize his election,” she said. “They’re trying to deny him what he just earned. So why is the burden always on him?” Democrats vow that burden will only increase. “There’s not going to be a grace period this time because everybody on our side thinks he’s illegitimate and poses a massive threat,” said Adam Jentleson, a top aide to the retiring Senator Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada and minority leader, who next year is going to work for one of the hubs of the opposition, the Center for American Progress. With liberals determined to confront the and Mr. Trump continuing to scorn his critics while denying intelligence officials’ assessment that Russia was responsible for hacking Democrats, the divisions so stark during this year’s campaign are on a course to grow worse. Washington has been drifting toward perpetual political combat for more than two decades, at least since the Newt Republican revolution of 1994. But this time, “People on the left are scared about Trump in a way they were not scared about Reagan or George W. Bush,” said Michael Kazin, a professor of history at Georgetown University who has written extensively on the history of liberalism. Moreover, the uneasiness with Mr. Trump has hardly receded in the nearly six weeks since his election. Half of Americans surveyed in an Street Journal poll last week approved of how the was preparing for the job, a figure far lower than when it was asked of Mr. Clinton in 1992 (77 percent) and Mr. Obama in 2008 (73 percent). Democrats, after a period of shell shock from their loss, say they will offer a resistance. Mr. Trump’s cabinet selections so far, and his refusal to acknowledge Russian efforts to affect the election, have only solidified Democrats’ resolve. But resolve will also confront a reality: Republicans control both chambers of Congress and are in sync with Mr. Trump on many issues. Democrats can make the cabinet confirmation process uncomfortable for Mr. Trump’s nominees, but their chances to actually block anyone rest with the so far unlikely prospect of Republican defections. While the left of American politics often lacks cohesion, leaders of many groups say this time will be different. The Center for American Progress and some groups directed by David Brock, a liberal strategist, are gearing up for the fight the Democracy Alliance, a progressive umbrella group, is preparing for a March donor summit to focus entirely on how to regain power in state capitals. And a number of activists are planning protests in conjunction with Mr. Trump’s inauguration next month. Democrats have not resolved intraparty tensions that were laid bare in the primary between Mrs. Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders, but say that they are unified in their view that the Trump presidency represents an existential threat. The matter of what exactly to confront Mr. Trump over is harder to figure. In the next few weeks alone, progressives will be forced to decide how much money and attention to devote to Mr. Trump’s cabinet and White House appointments, his pick to fill a vacant seat on the Supreme Court, his financial conflicts of interest and his stated plan to quickly repeal the Affordable Care Act. That’s not to mention unexpected foreign or domestic crises that may arise as Mr. Trump takes the oath of office. “In terms of needing to fight Trump and get back on track in the states, the left is unified,” said Gara LaMarche, the president of the Democracy Alliance. “The harder question is how you fight intelligently and strategically when every house is burning down. ” While progressives were furious with how Mr. Bush came to office in 2001, he was part of a political family and had run on a message of “compassionate conservatism. ” The arrival in Washington of Ronald Reagan as leader of the conservative movement is the better comparison, Mr. Kazin said. He noted that then, as now, liberal advocacy groups and publications saw their support soar in the days after Reagan’s election and that progressives organized vast protests (a people descended on the capital in September 1981 for a Solidarity Day march organized by the A. F. L. . I. O. ). Reagan, however, had won in a landslide, capturing 489 electoral votes and leaving little doubt about his mandate. Mr. Trump, as the protesters Monday sought to make clear, is coming to office under far different circumstances. | 1 |
If he doesn't want us there then pull out. That 200 million dollars a year we give and and troop support. Pull it all, the hell with them. When the country goes Coomie they will come crawling back asking for intervention. | 0 |
Donnerstag, 17. November 2016 Endlich: Esso-Tankstellen bieten jetzt auch veganes Benzin an Hamburg (dpo) - Veganer müssen beim Tanken künftig keine Kompromisse mehr eingehen: Die Tankstellenkette Esso hat heute das erste Benzin in Deutschland präsentiert, das komplett ohne tierische Fossilbestandteile auskommt. Ab sofort ist das Veganbenzin an sämtlichen Esso-Tankstellen für derzeit 12,93 Euro pro Liter erhältlich. "Für dieses Benzin musste vor 200 Millionen Jahren garantiert kein Tier sterben", erklärt Florian Barsch, der Vorstandsvorsitzende von Esso Deutschland, bei der Vorstellung des neuen Treibstoffs in Hamburg. Dafür sorgt eine neue revolutionäre Filtertechnik, mit der sich tierische Bestandtteile rückstandslos aus Erdöl entfernen lassen. "Übrig bleibt dann ein rein veganes Rohöl auf der Basis von prähistorischen Pflanzen wie etwa Algen, Kreidezeit-Avocados oder Jura-Rucola", so Barsch. "100 Prozent dinosaurierfrei!" Veganes Benzin sei nahezu genauso leistungsfähig wie herkömmlicher Treibstoff und garantiert für jeden Wagen verträglich. "Vielleicht sind Geschmack und Geruch nicht hunderprozentig wie beim Original, aber wir kommen schon sehr nahe dran." Gleichzeitig kündigte Barsch an, im Falle eines erfolgreichen Marktstarts von Veganbenzin auch eine gesonderte Variante für Ovo-Lacto-Vegetarier anzubieten, in der beispielsweise Stegosaurus-Eier oder Raptormilch enthalten sind. Schließlich wollen manche Kunden nicht komplett auf tierische Bestandteile verzichten, wenn es ums Wohl ihres Autos geht. Auch aus dem bei der Herstellung des veganen Treibstoffs als Nebenprodukt anfallenden Tieröl soll in den nächsten Monaten ein besonders potenter Kraftstoff mit Barbecue-Aroma (ebenfalls 12,93€/l) entwickelt werden, mit dem Esso vor allem männliche SUV-Fahrer begeistern will. pfg , dan, ssi; Foto unten: Shutterstock Artikel teilen: | 0 |
Prime Minister Manuel Valls of France sharply criticized on Monday a New York Times article in which French Muslim women described being ostracized by discriminated against when they sought jobs and made to feel persecuted. The article, which was based on numerous comments from European Muslim women, most of them French, was written in light of the controversy over the bathing suit known as the burkini. More than 30 French cities and towns had banned the burkini from public beaches, although an increasing number of those bans have been overturned by French courts. In an opinion piece published on The Huffington Post’s French website, Mr. Valls described the Times piece as presenting an “unacceptable image of France because it is false. ” The Huffington Post later posted a version translated into English. He also accused the Times report of drawing its conclusions based on interviews that did not reflect reporting that was broad but rather done in the context of an event being discussed in French media at the time: a “summer camp” that was “forbidden to people with white skin,” where those who attended opposed the mixing of whites and nonwhites, Mr. Valls wrote. He was referring to a gathering near the French city of Reims that the organizers described as a “ Summer Camp,” where minorities could gather to talk about their experiences of discrimination. According to the organizers, about 170 to 180 people attended between Aug. 25 and 28. The Times responded that Mr. Valls was mistaken about how the reporting for the piece had been done. “Our story was rigorously reported and based on responses by more than 1, 200 readers to an online in English, French and Arabic asking for the views of Muslim women in Europe after the burkini ban,” said Danielle Rhoades Ha, a spokeswoman for The Times. “We stand by the article. ” In the piece he published in The Huffington Post, Mr. Valls said he “contested with the greatest vigor” that the Times article quoted “Muslim women while suggesting that their voices are muzzled, to depict France as oppressing them. ” Mr. Valls also made clear that he did not accept the contention of French Muslim women that the burkini was a chance for them to participate in summer activities. Some women said that because their interpretation of their faith demanded that they dress modestly, the availability of the burkini had allowed them to go to the beach. Mr. Valls said the burkini was “not an anodyne bathing outfit, but a provocation. ” | 1 |
MEXICO CITY — One of President Enrique Peña Nieto’s top ministers and closest allies resigned on Wednesday, an apparent casualty of Mr. Peña Nieto’s wildly unpopular meeting last week with Donald J. Trump. The spectacle of the Mexican president standing next to the Republican candidate who has disparaged Mexicans prompted widespread dismay and anger here, and reportedly divided Mr. Peña Nieto’s cabinet. Luis Videgaray, the finance minister who stepped down on Wednesday, had championed the idea of inviting Mr. Trump to Mexico City over the objections of other ministers, according to several Mexican news media reports, though Mr. Peña Nieto insisted it was his own initiative. Mr. Peña Nieto announced Mr. Videgaray’s resignation at a news conference. He did not give a reason for Mr. Videgaray’s departure. But some analysts interpreted it as the latest, and most dramatic, effort by the president to regain the trust of the Mexican public following his meeting with Mr. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, who has made criticism of Mexicans and Mexico an incendiary motif of his campaign. “It will help mitigate the anger,” said José Antonio Crespo Mendoza, a professor of politics at Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas, a Mexican research and higher education center. “President Peña Nieto realized things could not stay as they were, and that they could no longer insist that it had been a good call” to invite Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump cast his visit as a statesmanlike effort to reach out to a country he had alienated. But hours after his meeting with Mr. Peña Nieto, he gave a combative speech in Phoenix that struck many of the themes that have defined his candidacy. The episode has left Mr. Peña Nieto and his government embarrassed at a time when his approval ratings were already at record lows over rising crime, poor economic growth and conflict of interest scandals. In the days after the meeting, the president scrambled to contain the fallout and to repair the damage — using a television interview, a newspaper column and a meeting held to mark his annual “Informe de Gobierno,” Mexico’s equivalent of the State of the Union address. But these steps seemed to do little to mollify many Mexicans, who accused the president of humiliating the nation, first by inviting Mr. Trump and then by failing to use the opportunity to push back against the candidate’s criticism of Mexico and Mexicans. The discontent has continued to simmer on social media and in the news, and an Nieto demonstration has been called for Sept. 15. On Tuesday, an opposition senator — seeking to provide the defense of Mexico that he said Mr. Peña Nieto had failed to offer — submitted a bill that would empower the government to fight several of Mr. Trump’s foreign policy proposals, including his promise to force Mexico to pay for the construction of a border wall and his threat to withdraw the United States from the North American Free Trade Agreement. “Of all the scandals Peña Nieto has faced, this is the most devastating,” said Alfonso Zárate, a political analyst and columnist in Mexico City. From Mr. Trump’s perspective, the trip was a risky move from the start, given the potential for embarrassment if the Mexican president were to criticize him publicly. It came together after Jared Kushner, the and campaign adviser to Mr. Trump, began to lay the groundwork with Mexican officials in early August. Mr. Kushner dealt with Mr. Videgaray and other government officials in negotiating how the meeting would happen, according to a close ally of Mr. Trump who was involved in the arrangements. Mr. Trump’s visit was largely and provided his campaign with pleasing visuals of the Republican nominee standing side by side with a head of state. But any positive effect was undone by Mr. Peña Nieto’s insistence afterward that he had told Mr. Trump that Mexico would not pay for a border wall, a claim that contradicted Mr. Trump’s account. Even so, the damage to Mr. Peña Nieto seems to have been far worse. While Mr. Videgaray’s resignation may have been intended to stanch the political bleeding in Mexico City and salvage the president’s standing, it also shifted the odds in the contest for future leadership of the governing Institutional Revolutionary Party, or P. R. I. In addition, it left Mr. Peña Nieto without one of his closest confidantes in his administration. Mr. Videgaray, who holds a doctorate in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, had been a rising star in the P. R. I. and his name was often mentioned as a possible presidential contender in 2018. He had worked for the president since 2005, when Mr. Peña Nieto was the governor of the State of Mexico, helping him restructure the state’s debt and coordinating Mr. Peña Nieto’s 2012 presidential bid. Mr. Videgaray became the president’s closest ally and adviser in the cabinet — “the power behind the throne,” Mr. Zárate said. His reputation was tarnished by reports he had bought a house at a golf club from a government contractor, though not enough to force him out of the cabinet or out of contention for 2018. The president, who is known for his loyalty to his inner circle, stuck by him. Indeed, Mr. Peña Nieto was accompanied by Mr. Videgaray when he made the announcement on Wednesday, and was warm and effusive toward his longtime adviser, thanking him for being “committed to Mexico and loyal to the president of Mexico. ” Mr. Zárate said the departure of Mr. Videgaray was “very painful for the president. ” He added, “we all know the enormous influence that he has. ’’ “It leaves the president orphaned,” Mr. Zárate said. As finance minister, Mr. Videgaray was at the center of the administration’s efforts to overhaul the country’s telecommunications and energy sectors. He successfully pushed to open the nation’s oil industry, which had been a monopoly since the 1930s. He also championed a tax overhaul that increased tax revenue but earned him some enemies within the business community. During his tenure, however, Mexico saw slow economic growth and a weak peso, and the country’s standing with agencies has suffered. Moody’s Investors Service and SP Global Ratings have each lowered their outlook from stable to negative in recent months. Economic performance has been so underwhelming that some analysts believe Mr. Videgaray’s departure was an inevitability discussed well before Mr. Trump’s visit. Furthermore, Mr. Videgaray is rumored to be a possible P. R. I. candidate for the governorship of the State of Mexico. “I see this as a clear electoral play,” said Genaro Lozano, a professor of United States government and society at the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City. “The State of Mexico is what they are betting on, what they have their eye on. It is one of the largest states in terms of population, with a solid and powerful P. R. I. structure, electoral support base and political mobilization. Even if they would put Trump’s cousin as candidate for governor, P. R. I. would win. ” The cabinet shuffle occurred a day before the Mexican government was scheduled to present its 2017 budget, a job that now shifts to the new finance minister, José Antonio Meade, whose appointment was announced at the news conference. Mr. Meade, 47, who has a doctorate in economics from Yale University, has been a significant player in the last two administrations. He was finance minister under Mr. Peña Nieto’s predecessor, Felipe Calderón, and Mr. Peña Nieto made him the foreign minister in 2012. In that post, he broke from his reputation as an apolitical technocrat when he led an angry defense of the government against a United Nations report condemning Mexico for its use of torture on suspects in detention. Thirteen months ago, Mr. Peña Nieto appointed him to head the Social Development Ministry, a post that elevated Mr. Meade to the level of a possible presidential candidate as he traveled around the country promoting the government’s programs for the poor. | 1 |
Why hydrogen peroxide should be in every home
Sunday, October 30, 2016 by: David Gutierrez, staff writer (NaturalNews) Inexpensive, nontoxic, versatile and potent: Hydrogen peroxide is a wonder product that belongs in every home.Hydrogen peroxide is widely known as a disinfectant for minor cuts and scrapes, but many people don't understand that it works simply by oxidizing microbes to death. Hydrogen peroxide is simply water with an extra oxygen atom attached; in this unstable form, the oxygen breaks off from the water and forms a free radical solution that is highly reactive. But once it has reacted, the only byproducts are non-reactive oxygen and water. This is why, when used properly, hydrogen peroxide is so safe.Hydrogen peroxide is so safe and effective that our own immune systems actually generate it as the first line of defense against microbes as diverse as bacteria, viruses, yeast and parasites. In this context, it also appears to act as an anti-inflammatory. Natural remedies So how can you make hydrogen peroxide work for you? Unsurprisingly, many of this product's greatest uses are as natural cures or for some other health-promoting function. For example, a nasal spray made from one tablespoon of 3 percent hydrogen peroxide in a cup of non-chlorinated water can be an effective treatment for sinus infections. Toothaches caused by minor infection can be treated with a hydrogen peroxide mouthwash; the same mouthwash can also remove bad breath.If you think you're coming down with a cold, stave it off by placing a few drops of hydrogen peroxide in your ears each morning.Hydrogen peroxide is also a potent anti-fungal. A 50–50 mix of hydrogen peroxide and water, sprayed on the feet every night and allowed to dry, is a good way to get rid of athlete's foot and other fungal infections. A similar (but much more diluted) cure can be used on plants suffering from fungus; in this case, dissolve half a cup of hydrogen peroxide in a gallon of water and spray on the affected plant. Replace your cosmetics! You can also get lots of use from hydrogen peroxide around the home. Mixed with baking soda, it makes a great toothpaste. It can also be used to protect water that you expect to be standing for a while, such as that in a humidifier or steamer – a pint of hydrogen peroxide mixed in will prevent microbial growth. Similarly, you can use hydrogen peroxide as a toilet bowl cleaner; let it sit for 20 minutes and then scrub.When properly diluted, hydrogen peroxide can detox your skin by stripping away harmful environmental toxins. Just mix 2 quarts of hydrogen peroxide into a full bathtub and soak for half an hour or more.Other cosmetic uses of hydrogen peroxide include cleaning your contact lenses – it denatures proteins that build up on the lenses – or helping to remove ear wax buildup. A few drops in the ears, followed by a few drops of olive oil, will cause earwax to break up and drain out.Hydrogen peroxide can also be used as a safer, gentler alternative to bleach for lightening your hair. Household uses Hydrogen peroxide isn't just for your body; it can also be for your dog's! Hydrogen peroxide can induce rapid vomiting in dogs that have swallowed dangerous objects. Vomiting should only be induced upon a vet's recommendation, however.Finally, hydrogen peroxide can be great for your clothing. Use it instead of bleach to whiten your laundry. More carefully applied, it can take out organic stains by breaking apart the proteins causing the discoloration. This is particularly effective with blood.Use caution when applying hydrogen peroxide directly to clothing, as it may bleach or discolor some fabrics. But if you have a fresh, organic stain, you should be fine if you pour on just a small amount of hydrogen peroxide, wait a few minutes (it should foam), and then rinse it off with cold water and soap. Sources for this article include: | 0 |
Statistical Tie: Latest Breitbart/Gravis Poll Shows Donald Trump Closes the Gap with Less Than Two Weeks Left Clinton, at 46 percent, leads Trump at 45 percent by just one point Breitbart - October 28, 2016 Comments
NEW YORK CITY, New York — Donald J. Trump, the Republican nominee for president, has closed the gap with his Democratic opponent Hillary Rodham Clinton with just a couple weeks left in the election, the latest national Breitbart News Network/Gravis Marketing poll shows.
Clinton, at 46 percent, leads Trump at 45 percent by just one point—inside the survey’s 2.3 percent margin of error. Libertarian Gary Johnson gets just 3 percent and the Green Party’s Dr. Jill Stein just 1 percent, while 4 percent are unsure. The survey was conducted from Oct. 25 to Oct. 26, sampling 1,824 registered voters across the United States. The poll was conducted using a combination of interactive voice response polling and an internet panel of cell phone users.
“Something has happened since the third debate,” Doug Kaplan, the managing partner of Gravis Marketing, said of the poll. “Conventional wisdom was after Trump said he wouldn’t promise to accept the results of the election and made the ‘nasty woman’ comment, many thought Hillary would gain—but Trump seems to be closing the gap. In every election in the last 30 years, this happens where the person behind closes the gap. Hillary still has a clear electoral advantage and many paths to victory. However, Trump is not out of it but Hillary is still the favorite.”
“This is a big story because it shows Trump really closing, importantly, as the other close polls are showing,” Democratic pollster Pat Caddell, who worked for President Jimmy Carter and is working with Breitbart News and Gravis Marketing on these polls, added. “He is closing with his favorability and unfavorability as well.
Caddell said he thinks Obamacare’s failures, where premiums are skyrocketing, is one of many reasons why Trump is surging. “Among other things, that is contributing [to Trump’s rise in the polls],” Caddell said. “When we are looking down the road at other things that may be influential, we are seeing the possibility of again on the immigration issue—that thing about concern on the border seems to be increasing as is opposition to Hillary and their plans to expand immigration and refugees, which is another big issue. But more importantly, at the end of the survey, we see both candidates have problems on their ability to unite the country and on whether or not they can have the moral leadership to lead. They’re basically about the same, which I consider a real improvement for Trump now that he’s that close.” | 0 |
WASHINGTON — A man fired a rifle on Sunday inside a Washington pizza restaurant that has been subjected to harassment based on false stories tying it to child abuse, the police said. No one was hurt, and the man was arrested. The man, Edgar M. Welch, 28, of Salisbury, N. C. told the police that he had come to the restaurant, Comet Ping Pong, in northwest Washington, to “ ” what is being called Pizzagate, an online conspiracy theory asserting, with no evidence, that the restaurant is somehow tied to a child abuse ring. He entered the restaurant shortly before 3 p. m. with a rifle and fired it at least once inside, the police said. The gunfire sharply escalated what had already been a tense period for the restaurant, its employees and the quiet neighborhood since the fake stories began spreading. Dozens of threats against employees had been made via email and social media. People inside the restaurant fled, and the police locked down the area, ordering patrons of a nearby bookstore and cafe called Politics and Prose to remain locked inside. Officers with rifles and protective gear surrounded the restaurant and apprehended Mr. Welch. Two additional firearms were found, one on Mr. Welch and the other in his vehicle, the police said. The police closed down a normally busy Connecticut Avenue, which runs in front of the restaurant, for several hours Sunday as they searched the area for other potential threats. In a statement, Comet Ping Pong’s owner, James Alefantis, condemned the people who had been spreading the bogus stories about child abuse. “What happened today demonstrates that promoting false and reckless conspiracy theories comes with consequences,” he said. “I hope that those involved in fanning these flames will take a moment to contemplate what happened here today and stop promoting these falsehoods right away. ” Bradley Graham, of Politics and Prose, said the incident was a worrisome event during an uneasy time for the neighborhood. “This is one of the things we feared,” Mr. Graham said as the police surrounded his bookstore with rifles and weapons drawn. “That this could go from a social media attack to something much more dangerous and physical. ” Mr. Graham said he and others had been disappointed that the local law enforcement authorities had not previously responded more aggressively to try to stop the harassment related to the fake claims, particularly after one supporter of the Pizzagate theory shot a live video from within the restaurant during a busy dinner shift. The misinformation campaign about Comet began when the email account of John D. Podesta, an aide to Hillary Clinton, was hacked and his emails were published by WikiLeaks during the presidential campaign. Days before the election, users on the online message board 4chan noticed that one of Mr. Podesta’s leaked emails contained communications with James Alefantis, Comet’s owner, discussing a for Mrs. Clinton. Sabrina Ousmaal, owner of a French restaurant called Terasol, which is across the street from Comet, said that other businesses in the area had also been targeted by threats and that the response from the authorities so far had been insufficient. “The F. B. I. and the police were notified repeatedly of these death threats and calls, emails, online posts,” she wrote in an email Sunday, after the rifle blast. “Nothing was done. I am appalled and horrified. Do people need to die for something to be done?” | 1 |
Desarticulan una red criminal que ofrecía a Arturo Pérez-Reverte para dar palizas CHANTAJEABAN A EMPRESARIOS DICIÉNDOLES QUE EL ESCRITOR LOS ATRAVESARÍA CON LA ESPADA DEL CAPITÁN ALATRISTE violencia
La Guardia Civil ha desmantelado esta mañana en Madrid una red de criminales que extorsionaba a empresarios y se ofrecía a dar palizas a deudores utilizando como reclamo al escritor Arturo Pérez-Reverte. “Me decían que, si no pagaba, el académico me partiría las piernas y me atravesaría con la espada del capitán Alatriste”, declara uno de los extorsionados.
Aunque el escritor niega cualquier relación con la trama delictiva, los chantajistas utilizaban fotografías suyas que mandaban por correo electrónico o postal a sus víctimas. A veces, incluso, dejaban ejemplares de novelas del académico en los buzones a modo de advertencia.
“Este tío estuvo en Sarajevo. No se anda con hostias. Me dijeron que si iba a la Policía me las tendría que ver con él y, francamente, tengo familia y no me quise arriesgar”, explica otro empresario que llegó a pagar los 20 mil euros que le solicitaba la red de extorsionadores.
Como relata el capitán José Antonio Orfidal, jefe de operaciones del departamento de Delincuencia Organizada de la Unidad Central Operativa (UCO) de la Guardia Civil, “los criminales ofrecían los servicios del literato y cobraban por horas, talmente como si fueran sus representantes. En ningún caso fue necesario que Pérez-Reverte actuara porque la gente pagaba enseguida, por eso el escritor no llegó a tener constancia de todo el entramado”.
En otros casos, los delincuentes amenazaban con “discursos de más de cinco horas de Javier Marías quejándose de cosas o conferencias enteras sobre el estado de la lengua española. La cuestión era amedrentar utilizando el ala dura de la Real Academia”, aclara Orfidal. | 0 |
In a pointed speech this weekend, the bishop of San Diego attacked U. S. President Donald Trump, telling his audience of social justice warriors that they must disrupt Trump’s efforts to fulfill his campaign promises. [In a address to the U. S. regional meeting of the World Meeting of Popular Movements, Bishop Robert McElroy said that “President Trump was the candidate of disruption. He was the disrupter. ” “Well, now we must all become disrupters,” he said. Acknowledging that the United States is living “a pivotal moment as a people and a nation” in which “bitter divisions cleave our country and pollute our actual dialogue,” the bishop urged his hearers to resist the temptation to unite under the president and rather to oppose him at every turn. “We must disrupt those who would seek to send troops into our streets to deport the undocumented, to rip mothers and fathers from their families,” McElroy said. “We must disrupt those who portray refugees as enemies, rather than our brothers and sisters in terrible need. We must disrupt those who train us to see Muslim men and women and children as sources of fear rather than as children of God. ” “We must disrupt those who seek to rob our medical care, especially from the poor. We must disrupt those who would take even food stamps and nutrition assistance from the mouths of children,” he said. The crowd of nearly 700 “community organizers and social justice ‘protagonistas’” interrupted the bishop’s address nearly two dozen times with cheers and applause. Further along in his speech, the bishop seemed to suggest that alternative media such as Breitbart are guilty of poisoning public discourse with a different version of key news stories, which he labelled as “dishonest. ” “Now we’ve come to a time when alternate facts compete with real facts, and whole industries have arisen to shape public opinion in destructively isolated and dishonest patterns,” said McElroy. Betraying his own economic biases, the bishop endeavored to pit a free market economy against human dignity, as if a centrally controlled economy were somehow more respectful of the dignity of individuals than an economy where creativity and personal economic initiative are encouraged. McElroy said that “the fundamental political question of our age” was whether American economic structures will receive greater freedom or be directed in a way “to safeguard the dignity of the human person and the common good of our nation. ” In his groundbreaking encyclical letter on economic life, Centesimus Annus, Saint John Paul II offered a radically different view of the relationship between economic freedom and human dignity. He wrote that one of the key factors behind the fall of the Soviet Union was the inefficiency of its economic system, which was “a consequence of the violation of the human rights to private initiative, to ownership of property and to freedom in the economic sector. ” Asking whether the free market system ought to be proposed to countries trying to rebuild their economy and society, John Paul famously answered: “If by ‘capitalism’ is meant an economic system which recognizes the fundamental and positive role of business, the market, private property and the resulting responsibility for the means of production, as well as free human creativity in the economic sector, then the answer is certainly in the affirmative. ” Bishop McElroy seems to see things differently. “Let all the world know that this economy kills,” the bishop said amidst cheers, urging his hearers to agitate for an increase in the minimum wage to “at least $15 an hour. ” Curiously, it was researchers from the University of California San Diego who found in 2014 that workers were the most adversely affected by minimum wage increases, despite the fact that this was the group that such legislation sought to help. Hikes in the minimum wage have other effects besides just giving workers a raise, the study found, and minimum wage increases in the late 2000s resulted in the loss of some 1. 4 million American jobs. Sometimes soft slogans — as appealing as they are — must yield to hard economics. Follow Thomas D. Williams on Twitter Follow @tdwilliamsrome | 1 |
Trump Proudly Declares: Most Of The People I’ve Insulted Deserved It By Andrew Bradford on October 27, 2016 Subscribe
Arrogance is defined as “an insulting way of thinking or behaving that comes from believing that you are better, smarter, or more important than other people.” In other words, Donald Trump perfectly exemplifies arrogance, and he just proved that fact yet again.
Appearing on Good Morning America Thursday morning, the GOP nominee readily defended the insulting posts he’s made on Twitter: “It’s ok, most of them deserved it.”
Trump then declared : “I believe in fighting back when people are against me, when they tell lies, you know, I have the power of this instrument and frankly sometimes I’ll use that. And I agree sometimes it will revert back or sometimes maybe it doesn’t come out — you have to be careful with it.”
When exactly has Trump been careful with what he posts on social media? Try never.
Melania Trump, who was also interviewed, said that if she becomes First Lady, one of her primary areas of focus would be social media: “What’s going on is very hurtful to children, to some adults as well.”
Does that mean she’ll take away Donald’s cell phone and duct tape his hands to his sides so he can’t tweet out hateful and hurtful shit the way he normally does? Yeah, good luck with that, Melania!
Earlier this week, the New York Times ran a two-page spread listing all of the insults and unkind postings Trump has made on Twitter since he announced he would be running for President in 2015. If you want to see a completely unhinged, uninformed, and unfiltered mind at work, just take a look at the Times article and recall what Hillary Clinton said regarding the Donald: “A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons.”
Donald Trump cannot be trusted with a smart phone, let alone the reins of power for the most important nation in the world.
Featured Image Via YouTube Screengrab About Andrew Bradford
Andrew Bradford is a single father who lives in Atlanta. A member of the Christian Left, he has worked in the fields of academia, journalism, and political consulting. His passions are art, music, food, and literature. He believes in equal rights and justice for all. To see what else he likes to write about, check out his blog at Deepleftfield.info. Connect | 0 |
KABUL, Afghanistan — An armed mob that included relatives of a young woman who had eloped with her lover stormed a police station holding the couple in eastern Afghanistan over the weekend, then dragged the lovers off and killed them, officials and witnesses said. The mob wounded three police officers, one of them seriously, the officials and witnesses said Sunday and Monday in providing accounts of the couple’s violent deaths, often called honor killings. The woman, Fatiha, 18, was described as having been married against her will and eloping instead with a young man, Hedayatullah, believed to be in his early 20s, from a neighboring village in Wama District of Nuristan Province. But on Saturday the police caught and arrested the couple on suspicion of adultery. Within hours an armed mob formed at the police station, led by Fatiha’s husband and his family, but also including her brothers and cousins, the officials and witnesses said. The authorities said there were only 30 police officers at the station facing a mob of 250 to 300 heavily armed men. “If police had fired bullets at the people, a massacre could have happened,” said Hafiz Abdul Qayoom, the governor of Nuristan, claiming the police had no option but to surrender the couple to the mob, especially after three officers had suffered gunshot wounds from the angry crowd. Enayatullah, the district governor in Wama, who like many Afghans uses only one name, said the couple were apparently killed soon after they had been taken out of the police station. “We asked for additional police, but the road to the district was closed due to snow,” he said. “If the police had resisted more, a disaster would have taken place. ” Salam Khan, 22, a witness from Fatiha’s village, said he saw what had happened to the couple after the police surrendered them. “Some of Fatiha’s relatives, her cousins, were beating her with their fists and saying, ‘Why did you do this?’ Then her older brother got angry and shot her with a hunting rifle and her younger brother shot her with an . I don’t know how many bullets they fired,” Mr. Khan said, speaking by telephone from the remote village. The man described by officials and witnesses as the woman’s husband, who was not identified, shot and killed Hedayatullah, with whom she had eloped, according to Mr. Khan. Hedayatullah was described as a member of the National Directorate of Security, Afghanistan’s paramilitary intelligence service, who was stationed in the village. It is common in many parts of rural Afghanistan for fathers to marry off their daughters without the daughter’s consent, even though both Afghan civil law and Islamic Shariah law require such consent. The authorities, however, often side with the families, and honor killings in cases where the girl refuses the marriage are common, although rarely publicized. The Nuristan case recalled a 2014 case in which a young couple from Bamian Province eloped to escape an arranged marriage, but last year fled to asylum in the United States to escape family retribution. “Such cases happen a lot in Nuristan, but they don’t come into the media,” said Hawa Alam Nuristani, a member of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission from Nuristan. This case came to attention because of the notoriety surrounding it and what Ms. Nuristani said was a high bride price paid to the girl’s father, reputedly 30 goats and seven cows. “In such cases when something goes wrong, people do not know other ways except killing, and women are not aware of their rights,” Ms. Nuristani said. Governor Qayoom said he was sending a delegation to the district to investigate the crime. “People there are ignorant, just like what people did in Kabul with Farkhunda,” he said. He was referring to a 2016 killing in which a female Islamic scholar was lynched by a mob over false rumors that she had burned a Quran. As of Monday in the Nuristan case, no one had been charged or arrested in the fatal shootings of the couple or the shootings of the police officers. Governor Qayoom said there had been reports of several recent cases of elopements in the district, so villagers were on the lookout for unaccompanied women. Saeedullah Payendazai Kamparwal, the chairman of the Nuristan provincial council and a native of Wama District, said Fatiha’s plan had been to climb the mountain above her house to a road on the other side, where Hedayatullah was awaiting her. Two young boys were suspicious after seeing her on her own, however, and they alerted police officers. The Afghan police typically consider an unmarried couple alone together to be guilty of adultery or attempted adultery, and the couple were presumably arrested for that. They claimed to be married but the police could tell they were from different districts and therefore did not believe them, according to Mr. Kamparwal’s account. Once word reached the families of the woman and her husband that she was being held, they formed the mob that stormed the police station, according to the authorities. “People said to the police, ‘Hand them over to us or we will raid the offices and break off relations with the government,’” Mr. Kamparwal said. The district is in a part of a province where the Taliban also have some control. Saheb Dad Hamdard, the head of the Nuristan Journalists’ Shura, or council, cast doubt on claims that such large numbers of people had attacked the police station. “How can anyone believe that 250 to 300 people attacked? Wama District in total has four villages. Where would 300 people come from?” he said. “And where did they get arms? There’s no armed group in the village. ” Mr. Hamdard suggested that the authorities had acquiesced in turning the couple over to the families. Others, however, said that in such rural areas of Nuristan Province, people are often heavily armed. | 1 |
Donald J. Trump took to Twitter on Saturday morning to comment on the news that a cousin of Dwyane Wade, the N. B. A. star, had been shot and killed in Chicago, linking the death to his effort to win support from voters. “Dwayne Wade’s cousin was just shot and killed walking her baby in Chicago,” Mr. Trump wrote, misspelling Mr. Wade’s given name, which was later corrected. “Just what I have been saying. will VOTE TRUMP!” Mr. Trump, who initially did not express sympathy for the family of the slain woman, Nykea Aldridge, later in the day posted a Twitter message offering his condolences. Mr. Trump has been courting voters by painting a dire picture of life in minority communities, one troubled by poverty, violence and dysfunction, especially in “inner cities. ” His case to black voters is that minority communities have suffered because of failed Democratic policies, and that they should support his candidacy. “What the hell do you have to lose?” he has said frequently over the past week in a rhetorical question aimed at . He has paid particular attention to Chicago, a city plagued by a seemingly endless spate of shootings and gun violence. Mr. Trump has had a penchant for using tragedies to illustrate his campaign’s message. After the June attack in an Orlando nightclub, Mr. Trump wrote: “Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism, I don’t want congrats, I want toughness vigilance. We must be smart!” His comments regarding the Wade family drew near instant condemnation on social media, though the Wade family had not released a statement in response to Mr. Trump’s message. | 1 |
Farmers are applauding President Donald Trump’s executive order Tuesday that reverses the Environmental Protection Agency’s “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS) rule, which gave the agency virtually limitless authority to regulate water on private land. [Introduced under President Barack Obama, the WOTUS expanded the EPA’s interpretation of the Clean Water Act to include, as Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said, “almost any piece of land that gets wet and puddles. ” The Clean Water Act was intended to apply to “navigable” waters, but WOTUS interpreted that extremely broadly, so that it included waters with a “significant nexus” with navigable waters — in other words, taking in water that might eventually flow into navigable waterways. The result was that the EPA could theoretically regulate everyday farming operations. The Los Angeles Times notes that “farmers knew the cavalry was coming to their rescue on election night” because they expected Trump to repeal WOTUS. And on Tuesday, just hours before his first address to a special joint session of Congress, he delivered on those expectations. The Times adds: “Trump had been uncharacteristically specific during his campaign about reversing the rules, and calls to ‘Repeal WOTUS’ were as common a rallying cry among growers as ‘Build the Wall’ was to his followers in rural manufacturing areas. EPA director Scott Pruitt said in a statement: “The President’s action preserves a federal role in protecting water, but it also restores the states’ important role in the regulation of water. ” The State of California has been increasing its role in regulating water on private land, expanding its authority to include groundwater — a response prompted by fears of overuse during the recent extreme drought and the ongoing restriction of federal water allocations due to efforts to preserve the endangered Delta smelt. With regard to federal regulation of water, however, farmers in California share their counterparts’ relief — and join those who feel satisfied that the new president is keeping his promises, regardless of “resistance” from Democrats and the media. Joel B. Pollak is Senior at Breitbart News. He was named one of the “most influential” people in news media in 2016. His new book, How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak. | 1 |
Last weekend, Women’s Marches were held in cities all over the globe but women were not welcome. activists in Texas will be convening at Texas’ Capitol this weekend to demonstrate their convictions during the 44th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. [The march in Washington, D. C. this past weekend “[d]espite its lip service to ‘diversity,’” “turned out to be just another front for the abortion lobby, promoted by Planned Parenthood and its cronies,” reported Breitbart News. It was “nothing more than a front for the U. S. abortion lobby” that “quashed attempts of feminists to participate. ” Breitbart News reported that the event pitched as a “’grassroots effort,’ in reality, [was] a massive choreographed assembly paid for by major donors such as George Soros and Planned Parenthood. ” The list of “Partners” of the event in the nation’s capitol included: Catholics for Choice, the Center for Reproductive Rights, The Coalition of Nasty Women, EMILY’s List, Free the Nipple, GLAAD, NARAL America Foundation, National Abortion Federation, National Center for Lesbian Rights, National Institute for Reproductive Health, Pussyhat Project, and Planned Parenthood. Although only women were allowed to officially participate in the march, Breitbart News reported that the president of America’s largest organization of youth “crashed” the march. Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, wrote on her Facebook page — “Yeah so they wouldn’t let us in their march so we just ran ahead and got in the front. ” She did so after she posted a photo of her group holding a banner “Abortion Betrays Women: # . org. ” This weekend women, men, and families will be traveling from all over the state to attend the 2017 Texas Rally for Life on the south steps of the Texas Capitol in Austin. According to the event website, www. TexasRallyforLife. org, more than 57 million unborn children have been aborted since that 1973 U. S. Supreme Court decision. A schedule of the time of the event, and where to to march to the Texas Capitol, is on the website. The rally will be held from 2:00 to 3:00 on the south side of the capital building. Melissa Ohden, an abortion attempt survivor and the author of the book, “You Carried Me,” is the keynote speaker at the rally this Saturday. “The Texas Rally for Life commemorates the tragic Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision. That decision struck down Texas law protecting unborn babies from abortion, a law that had been on the books since 1865. We expect thousands of Texans from across the state to converge at the Capitol in Austin to show the Legislature and the media that Texas is . More than 40 organizations across the state have formed a host committee to sponsor and promote this event. Texas Alliance for Life is proud to be one of them,” Joe Pojman, Ph. D. executive director for Texas Alliance for Life told Breitbart Texas. On January “Over 200 students from across Texas will converge in Austin, Texas for the fourth annual Boots on the Ground Conference,” Melissa Conway, director for external relations for Texas Right to Life told Breitbart Texas. The Texas Right to Life spokeswoman said, “This year’s conference theme focuses on uniting diverse groups on one common cause: to make abortion unthinkable. Promoting the equal right to life for all human beings, including the is a message that these students plan to voice by their participation in the Rally for Life. ” Conway said that the students will be carrying #DismemberRoe signs that show the importance of protecting the and ending the atrocity of abortion. Texas Right to Life is proud to lead the way for Life by equipping and empowering college students with the knowledge and tools needed to advance the Culture of Life in local communities and college campuses across the state. Texas State Representative Briscoe Cain ( Park) told Breitbart Texas, “On Saturday, Texans will be gathering on the Capitol grounds to march united against the abortion cartel. I stand with them in the Texas Capitol. ” Many of the representatives in Texas are and Texas has been a leader in passing legislation. As reported by Breitbart Texas last June, the United States Supreme Court issued a decision which was a significant blow to Texas abortion law by striking down Texas House Bill 2 (HB 2). In a decision, the nation’s highest court struck the legislation signed into law in 2013. The case of Whole Woman’s Health et al. v. Hellerstedt overturned provisions that Texas representatives said were designed to improve the quality of care for women and improve the sanitary conditions of surgical centers used to provide women’s health services. Kellyanne Conway, counselor to President Trump, and Baltimore Ravens tight end Benjamin Watson, are headlining the 2017 March for Life that will be held Friday in Washington, D. C. on the national mall, as reported by Breitbart News. The march will begin at the mall and end at the U. S. Supreme Court building. Lana Shadwick is a contributing writer and legal analyst for Breitbart Texas. She has served as a prosecutor and associate judge in Texas. Follow her on Twitter @LanaShadwick2. | 1 |
This article was written by Derrick Broze and originally published at Activist Post.com .
Editor’s Comment: This is crazy, this protest has turned ugly, even weeks after becoming a total police state. But will it ever garner national attention, and become a major topic?
Non-violent protesters are being harmed by security and police, and there is no clear justification for it.
Riot Police Fire Water Cannon, Rubber Bullets at Unarmed Water Protectors
by Derrick Broze
Police have once again used violent tactics on water protectors as the fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline continues into late November.
Since August, North Dakota police have employed many violent tactics against the Standing Rock Sioux and allied “water protectors” who are fighting the Dakota Access Pipeline. On Sunday November 20, we witnessed an increase in totalitarian tactics as the Morton County Sheriff’s office used rubber bullets, tear gas, and for the first time since conflicts began, a water cannon. There were also reports of “concussion grenades” or stun grenades being thrown by police.
According to the Sacred Stone Camp :
“Hundreds of water protectors were injured at the Standing Rock encampments when law enforcement blasted them with water cannons in freezing temperatures Sunday evening. The attacks came as water protectors used a semi-truck to remove burnt military vehicles that police had chained to concrete barriers weeks ago, blocking traffic on Highway 1806.
Water protectors’ efforts to clear the road and improve access to the camp for emergency services were met with tear gas, an LRAD (Long Range Acoustic Device), stinger grenades, rubber bullets, and indiscriminate use of a water cannon with an air temperature of 26 degrees Fahrenheit.”
Sacred Stone also reports that National Lawyers Guild legal observers witnessed multiple people knocked unconscious and bleeding after being shot in the head by rubber bullets. According to Unicorn Riot , over 160 were injured, including “a 13-year-old girl who was shot in the face by law enforcement, two people suffered cardiac arrests, and many contusions and damage to hands from rubber bullets.” Due to the overwhelming injuries the local Cannonball Gym was opened for emergency relief from injuries and the cold.
“We are asking for clean water, we are asking for the right to live, we are asking for our children to live. Instead they attack us, because they protect oil,” LaDonna Allard, Director of the Sacred Stone Camp, said. “Morton county and DAPL security are inhuman- what is wrong with their hearts?”
The situation unfolded around 5 pm central on Sunday as protectors began attempting to remove one of the burnt armored vehicles left by the police. These are the same vehicles that I witnessed being left by local law enforcement and then set on fire by a group of provocateurs on October 27. ( see in the report below at 8:30 ).
These provocateurs had already set an SUV on fire on the bridge when police parked two armored vehicles on the bridge and drove away. Essentially, the police left the vehicles there to be set on fire and then those same vehicle fires were used to demonize the protectors and block the bridge and keep protectors from the site of construction. On Sunday, water protectors chained one of the vehicles to an 18-wheeler and attempted to remove it from the bridge.
5:30 PM 11/20/16: MRAP armored vehicle moves forward as water protectors work to clear path on Highway 1806. #NoDAPL pic.twitter.com/9t5aauP1HG
— Unicorn Riot (@UR_Ninja) November 21, 2016
Eventually water protectors were successful in removing one of the armored vehicles, but not before police began firing rubber bullets and using a water cannon.
11/20/16: Burnt military truck left by police to block Hwy 1806 removed by water protectors using semi & chains. #NoDAPL pic.twitter.com/2ryIRN90VV
— Unicorn Riot (@UR_Ninja) November 21, 2016
The Sheriff’s office originally told NBC that no water cannons were used, but hours later Donna Hushka, a spokeswoman for the sheriff’s department, confirmed to journalist Jenni Monet that law enforcement used water as “crowd control” against the protesters. Police claim that multiple fires were started around the barricade by water protectors and that officers had rocks thrown at them. The water protectors say they only started isolated fires to warm people from the water. However, in video of the incident flares shot by law enforcement can be seen starting grass fires.
Ironically, only two days before they decided to douse water protectors in below freezing temperatures, the Morton County Sheriff’s office released a statement warning that, “exposure to North Dakota’s winter weather presents a very real risk of frostbite, hypothermia, and life-threatening conditions.” Despite the water cannon the water protectors continued their attempts to remove the armored vehicle from the bridge.
On Friday, Energy Transfer Partners CEO Kelcy Warren told the Associated Press that the company is not considering rerouting the pipeline. Warren has also said that the company has waited “long enough.” Energy Transfer Partners filed suit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers after the Corps decided they needed more time to review the permitting for final construction on the pipeline.
Warren’s comments came on the same night that North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple asked the Army to solve the crisis and also sought assistance from federal law enforcement to quell the protests.
“Further delays simply prolong the risks to public safety, prolong the hardships endured by area residents and increase costs incurred by the state of North Dakota and Morton County,” he said in a statement.
Conflicts between water protectors and local law enforcement continue because ETP crews are still preparing to tunnel under Lake Oahe despite not having the proper permits.
This article was written by Derrick Broze and originally published at Activist Post.com .
Derrick Broze is an investigative journalist and liberty activist. He is the Lead Investigative Reporter for ActivistPost.com and the founder of the TheConsciousResistance.com . | 0 |
. Fake Rice Made from Plastic is Everywhere — Here's How to Recognize Real From Fake There are no limits to what the black market will produce in the name of profit, and the latest worr... Print Email http://humansarefree.com/2016/11/fake-rice-made-from-plastic-is.html There are no limits to what the black market will produce in the name of profit, and the latest worry for the food market is the production of fake rice. That's right, fake rice is being produced on a massive scale and is finding its way on to supermarket shelves. It seems hard to believe that rice, one of the cheapest foods in the world is being imitated, but it is happening on a large scale in Asia, and China in particular. After being first found in China, it has since been found in Vietnam, India and more recently in countries in Europe, although it has not been identified in the USA yet.The problem with the fake rice is that it is almost undetectable from normal rice, and is being mixed up in normal everyday branded rice. The fake rice has been known to cause stomach complaints and it is thought to be able to cause serious digestive problems, as it is made from dangerous unregulated ingredients such as synthetics, chemicals and even potato off-cuts. Also, contaminated food from China is now entering the U.S. under the 'Organic' label . So, it's probably best to avoid foods imported from China altogether. Worries about the impostor rice are rife in poor areas where rice is a staple of people's diet, and can't be avoided. You should avoid any rice that has a faint plastic smell , and the fake rice is known to keep its shape after being boiled . It does not become soft like normal rice, so if you notice this stop using that product immediately. Reference: http://organicandhealthy.org Dear Friends, HumansAreFree is and will always be free to access and use. If you appreciate my work, please help me continue.
Stay updated via Email Newsletter: Related | 0 |
A Marine Corps service member is facing a while another has been discharged following the “Marines United” nude scandal. [“[Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert] Neller told Senate Armed Services Committee lawmakers that 65 individuals were identified in the scandal — in which service members allegedly shared nude photos of female Marines and veterans in the private Facebook group ‘Marines United,’ — and that 59 were sent to their commands for possible disciplinary or administrative action,” reported The Hill on Thursday. “Of the 59 individuals, seven have received punishment, 20 have received ‘adverse administrative actions,’ and one Marine has been administratively separated. ” “The service is also planning an Article 32 hearing to determine whether there is enough evidence to warrant a on one suspect, but Neller did not say if it was a Marine,” they continued. General Robert Neller also detailed how he and other leaders spoke to “tens of thousands” of Marines to make them understand their responsibility. “I’ve gone personally, as all of my leaders have gone, and spoken to literally tens of thousands of Marines and made them understand what their responsibilities are,” claimed Neller. “The social media things that we’ve seen have been … were just indicative of a problem within our culture that we did not properly respect or value the contributions of women in our Corps and that’s the problem we have to fix. ” In April, it was reported that sharing private nude photos had been made a crime in the U. S. Marine Corps and Navy following the scandal, which led to nude images of female Marines ending up for sale on the dark web. Charlie Nash is a reporter for Breitbart Tech. You can follow him on Twitter @MrNashington or like his page at Facebook. | 1 |
Fox News’ Tucker Carlson Tonight is averaging nearly double the ratings of the Megyn The Kelly File when compared with the same time period last year, according a report. [The Hill reports that ratings for Carlson — who took over the 9 p. m. primetime slot from Kelly this month — are up 95 percent when compared with Kelly File ratings from January 2016. According to Nielsen Media Research, TCT is averaging 775, 000 viewers per episode in the key demo, while Kelly’s program drew an average of 398, 000 viewers in the demo last year. Additionally, Carlson’s show is reportedly up 37 percent in total viewership with an average of 3. 73 million total viewers, compared with Kelly’s 2016 average of 2. 72 million viewers. On January 3, Kelly announced she would be leaving her longtime home at Fox News to take a new position at NBC News. The anchor will reportedly lead a daytime news show and an “ ” Sunday night newsmagazine show, and will also appear on the network’s discussion panels during marquee political events. Kelly is expected to begin her new role at NBC in September. Carlson, who previously hosted news shows on CNN and MSNBC and later founded the conservative news website The Daily Caller, replaced former Fox News anchor Greta van Susteren in the 7 p. m. hour after she left in November to host a new show on MSNBC. Martha McCallum replaced Carlson as the 7 p. m. anchor with a new show, The First 100 Days, after Carlson was moved to Kelly’s former . Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum | 1 |
Whether traveling for business or pleasure, Tad Milbourn, chief executive of the San Francisco technology Payable, stays at an Airbnb property whenever possible. “It’s absolutely the coolest, being in someone’s house as opposed to a hotel,” he said. “And it’s superior, from the price, experience and novelty standpoint. ” Because Payable helps clients manage payments, Mr. Milbourn is particularly attuned to the services Airbnb has developed for business travelers, and he encourages his two employees who travel to use Airbnb and its services too. These include the ability to track employees’ whereabouts and spending and to charge expenses to a corporate credit card. Mr. Milbourn is one of many business travelers now choosing Airbnb or other services, like HomeAway and VRBO, over conventional hotels. A report issued last month by Concur, a travel and expense management company, found that the number of nights that its 42 million business travel customers spent in accommodations rose more than 50 percent from the first quarter of 2015 to the first quarter of this year. Airbnb is actively cultivating this clientele, having recently reached agreements with three big business travel management companies in the United States: American Express Global Business Travel, BCD Travel and Carlson Wagonlit Travel. Under these agreements, Airbnb will send data on travelers’ expenditures and itineraries to the travel management companies, which in turn will share the information with the travelers’ employers, their clients. The employers can then use this data to monitor employees’ spending and travel and to track them down, as needed, if there is an emergency. But some business travelers who have used Airbnb, especially those whose bosses booked the accommodations for them, warn that bad surprises can sometimes await. Alexa Pothier, a consultant for a Palo Alto, Calif. software company, who has used Airbnb occasionally during vacations with generally positive results, had a different outcome on a business trip in 2014 when she stayed at a apartment in the Shoreditch neighborhood of London. The host owned a small business in a storefront on the ground floor, which Ms. Pothier had to walk through to reach the stairs to the apartment. Although the apartment had a large living space, where Ms. Pothier said she could work comfortably, she was startled by a mouse that “early on scampered very quickly across the couch. ” And the bedroom window overlooked a noisy street, which forced her to use earplugs that the host had left in a bowl next to the bed. When Katie Gilligan, a New Yorker and a former account manager for a service, traveled to London last year on business, her boss put her up for a week each at two apartments booked through Airbnb. The second apartment, in the King’s Cross neighborhood, was owned by a woman who shared the living space and would not let Ms. Gilligan use the water or flush the toilet after 8 p. m. The host also walked around wearing only a towel, Ms. Gilligan said, “talking to me about her life experience and about aliens coming down and probing people. ” All the more reason, perhaps, to use Airbnb’s business travel services that include “business travel ready” listings — accommodations geared toward business travelers’ specific needs. To qualify, a lodging must meet various criteria, including high customer ratings accommodations that are an entire home or apartment, not shared with the owner the availability of and a work space and an iron, a hair dryer and other amenities. Chip Conley, head of global hospitality and strategy for Airbnb, said that more than 70, 000 companies had made bookings through Airbnb for Business, a program introduced last year that features listings and travel management tools. Not all of those companies, however, are as willing as Payable to talk about their use of Airbnb. Some of the prominent companies that Mr. Conley and others at Airbnb have cited as business travel customers — including Facebook and Google — declined to discuss the topic for this article. And many of the companies that were willing, including Morgan Stanley, Salesforce, Twilio and TBWA, had other business relationships with Airbnb. Some professionals in the business travel industry acknowledge the potential benefits of using services like Airbnb, and see some of the drawbacks. Airbnb’s affordable offerings could help attendees of conventions and meetings, Deborah Sexton, president and chief executive of the Professional Convention Management Association, said in an email. accommodations can also offer an attractive alternative when hotel rooms are sold out, she said. Depending on its location, an Airbnb property might not be the most convenient option for a business traveler, particularly someone attending a conference or convention, Ms. Sexton said. “One of the biggest perks of a host hotel is its central location,” she said. “For attendees who stay at Airbnb properties in different neighborhoods, getting to an conference or attending a evening reception may be more difficult. ” Ms. Sexton and some other experts also raised safety and legal concerns. Although Airbnb offers host protection insurance, which provides primary coverage for Airbnb hosts and landlords in more than 15 countries against liability claims of up to $1 million, the coverage does not apply to liability from assault and battery, sexual abuse or molestation, or to acts of terrorism, among other events. William A. Brewer III, a lawyer in New York and Dallas who represents hotel owners — typically some of Airbnb’s staunchest opponents — said hotel owners, managers and franchisers had an obligation to reduce foreseeable risks. For the traveler, he said, the question is whether the providers of lodging have a balance sheet strong enough to pay for their negligence if trouble occurs. “I believe this is why businesses often place their faith in hotel chains when booking employee travel,” he added. But those concerns might be offset, Mr. Brewer said, if a traveler were on a assignment and the employer could cut costs significantly by booking an Airbnb property. In this case, he said, the employer could find it worthwhile to “expend the amount of effort required for due diligence to offset any liability issues. ” It is also not clear whether Airbnb’s continuing battles with local governments in New York, San Francisco and elsewhere could hamper its business travel strategy. Airbnb has sued San Francisco over a June decision by the city’s Board of Supervisors to fine the company $1, 000 a day for every unregistered host on its service. That followed a bipartisan move by New York lawmakers, who voted to heavily fine anyone who used Airbnb to rent an entire apartment for fewer than 30 days — a practice that has been illegal in the state since 2010. Nick Papas, an Airbnb spokesman, said the company would not let those disputes deter its efforts to cultivate a business traveler clientele. “Thus far, we’ve seen that business and leisure travelers remain eager to use Airbnb in New York and San Francisco,” he said. Bjorn Hanson, a professor at the Tisch Center for Hospitality and Tourism at New York University, said the travel management companies’ agreements with Airbnb showed that they were “effectively endorsing” Airbnb. “This changes the debate” that Airbnb is having with New York and San Francisco, he said, and gives “much more weight to Airbnb’s side. ” | 1 |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.